Public­square dancing is now very popular with the elderly people in China. In fact, many Chinese ladies, mostly women in their fifties or sixties,     1     (take) up square dancing as a regular form of exercise over the years. Every day after supper, they gather on the square dancing. They think that square dancing is     2     great benefit. Besides helping them keep fit, it also provides them with a good chance     3     (improve) the relationship with neighbors. Also, such dance actually enriches their     4     (culture) life on the whole.

    5    , public­square dancing has also caused some social concerns. The music of square dancing tends to be very noisy,     6     of course disturbs the normal life of people living nearby. Besides,     7     (expose) to such loud noise may do harm to the dancers’ health in the long run.

Square dancing is no doubt     8     good form of exercise and enjoyment, but dancers should take their neighbors’ needs into     9     (consider). They should choose a right time and turn down their music a bit so that they will cause little trouble for others. Only in this way can they dance     10     (happy) and live in harmony with their neighbors.

4 . In many families today, both the mother and the father have jobs outside the home. This can make it difficult to take care of the children. To help, some companies are changing the work rules. These companies are trying to be more family-friendly.

What are companies doing to become family-friendly? Many companies are allowing their employees (雇员) to work flexible (灵活的) hours. With flexible hours, people can work full time, but they don’t have to work to a nine-to-five schedule. Some employees choose to come early and leave early. Some employees choose to work ten hours one day and six hours the next. Most companies say that flexible hours increase productivity. In the United States, about one-third of full-time employees have flexible work schedules.

Family-friendly companies also allow two employees to share one job. Each employee does half the job and gets half the salary. In the United States, 27% of the companies offer some kind of job sharing.

Many family-friendly companies also give paid leave to both parents when a baby is born. In many countries, employers have to give female workers time off before and after the birth of a child. In the United States, for example, female employees get 12 weeks of unpaid time off. New mothers can stay at home, but they don t get their salary. In some countries, employers have to give all workers paid leave for the birth of their child. In Finland, for example, both male and female employees get paid leave. Women get 105 days of paid leave and men get 42.

The way people work is changing. For many people, that is a good thing.

Is artificial intelligence the greatest human achievement or the biggest threat to our     1    (exist)? People in the Technology of Tomorrow Forum have different views. Millenniumbutterfly thinks that his daily life is more    2    (convenience) with the advance of artificial intelligence. For example, he has got his super-smart personal assistant    3    (build) into his phone. The assistant answers any question he puts to her    4    (immediate) and even uses his answers    5    (learn) more about his preferences. He hopes that more breakthroughs in AI will be made soon, so that people can enjoy more and more benefits. Popkid admits that more advanced AI could be helpful in    6    (solve) the world’s problems,     7     there is a high level of risk involved. Actually, none of us is    8    (prepare) for the challenges of AI. In Pink_haze’s opinion, people all need to coexist    9     AI technology whether they like it or not. We have no choice but    10    (embrace) and regulate it.

6 . For some kids, the news on TV can be difficult to understand. Dont worry. Here comes Linda Ellerbee. She is a well-known journalist behind Nickelodeons Nick News, a special TV program for kids. As the shows creator and reporter, Ellerbee talks about the news in a way thats easy for children to understand.

This month, Nick News celebrated its 20th birthday. It is the longest running TV news program for kids. Ann Curry, the host of the program Today, interviewed Ellerbee in New York City. Ellerbee wore her favorite orange shoes—the same pair she wears in the program—for the special occasion.

When asked why she started Nick News, Ellerbee’s answer is simple. “Kids have a right to know,” she says. “And they already do know, but maybe not all the facts.” She looks at her job on Nick News as more than just a news reporter. She says that it’s her duty to explain the news and help children understand what has really happened.

Ellerbee tries to balance bad news with good news, too. “Behind each sad story, theres always someone or something trying to make it better,” she explains.

Besides important events, Nick News also reports the things that are going on in the world of kids. When deciding what to talk about in the program, Ellerbee says, “We think: What big event are kids unable to avoid? What are they already hearing about? What can we help them understand better?”

8 . When I zipped through elementary school way back in the 1950s, in English class we were encouraged to express ourselves through creative writing, public speaking or perhaps taking part in some form of drama. And as we shared our creativity we were improving our communication skills. The emphasis here was how best to convey our thoughts and talents as clearly as possible. Yet it seemed that all spoken word exercises were being taught only from the speaker’s point of view, with little or no time spent teaching the fine art of listening.

And that was a missed opportunity because young children are remarkable listeners. They take in words, ideas and speech patterns, quite often without our awareness. Yet somewhere along the way, we teach them to stop listening. Perhaps they would benefit from lessons in selective silence, concentration, while focusing on knowing how to process all incoming information. Sadly, to the best of my knowledge, no such programs are offered.

We seem to allocate less time to actually listening to one another. There is no question that we are a nation of bad listeners. One reason might be the fact that we have become a much more visual society as result of exposure to television, the Internet and all manner of hand-held wireless devices. We tend to be more self-absorbed and primarily focused on hearing ourselves talk rather than listening to others.

I attended a small family gathering a few years ago and almost everyone except my 86-year-old aunt was constantly texting or checking email on their iPhone. It made me wonder why we had bothered get together in the first place as we were paying so little attention to one another. We could just as easily have had an online get-together.

Listening is indeed a rare and special talent. And one that takes a lot of practice. But once you have gotten comfortable with the technique, you might find your next tete-a-tete a whole lot more meaningful. Simply listening for nuances in conversation will provide so much more context and substance for the words you are hearing. Remember, in order to be interesting, you must first be interested. And in conversation, you are supposed to be listening, not waiting to talk.

Don’t brag(炫耀), but be proud of what you have done. These two pieces of advice     1     (be) tough to balance before Facebook existed. Even today’s share-it-all social media haven’t made     2     any easier. We are     3     (able) to draw a line between a humble bragging and a straight-up bragging. But we certainly know that oversharing doesn’t do your friendship any favors.

Social media like Facebook bring us     4     (convenient). Meanwhile, they can put us     5     danger of oversharing. Once upon a time, only your family and close friends would be there     6     (see) you eagerly open presents on Christmas morning. Now the photo     7     you take on your iPhone will likely become a touch-up Instagram in about 15 seconds. Maybe you just post it subconsciously. But your sharing behavior could     8     (easy) be considered annoying or even narcissistic(自恋的).

To post or not to post? Maybe we should all be asking     9     (we) the question before hitting the share button. As our personal fame grows alongside our social media presences, so     10     (do) the number of people we could potentially(潜在地) impress or bother.