With the development of modern technology, people can stay     1     (connect) with their families and friends easily, however far apart they are from each other. WeChat is one of the most     2     (frequent) used means of communication in China. It is reported that the number of the WeChat users     3     (reach) over 1.1 billion so far.

Once joining the WeChat, people can find more and more people start to add them     4     fiends. They don’t have to consider time     5     (zone) when communicating. Another reason why it is so popular is that it costs nothing. It’s also very convenient for people to immediately update     6     they are doing by WeChat.

However, addiction to WeChat will rob people of the time that should otherwise     7     (spend) on something more important. And the many so-called friends on it are not really friends at all, who simply want     8     (put) ads or sell items on Moments. Besides, people on the WeChat are more likely to compare     9     (they) with others, which will make them feel bad when finding some people seem to be     10     (success).

New research shows that the average cost of raising a child to the age of 18 in China in 2021 was 485,000 yuan for a first child,     1     is far more than     2     in the United States and Japan. The high cost of child-raising is one more     3     (difficult) Chinese policymakers face while     4     (deal) with rapidly decreasing birth rates. Experts warn China’s aging population will put pressure     5     its health and social security systems. A decrease in workers could also     6     (severe) limit growth for the world’s second-largest economy in the coming years.

New policies permit     7     (family) to have as many as three children. But China`s birth rate dropped to 7.52 births per 1,000 people in 2021. That is the     8     (low) since the National Bureau of Statistics` began recording the information in 1949. The high costs of raising a child     9     (cause) officials in China to place restrictions on the private tutoring industry in the last few years. Some areas have been giving couples money for having     10     second or third child.

Water shortage is one of the     1     (great) crises facing us today, with two thirds of the global population living in areas     2     water is scarce(稀缺的) for a month or more every year. There are two contributing factors     3     this problem: increasing global demand for water, and unsustainable means by which these demands are being met. Yet, despite global water usage already increasing threefold (三倍) over the last fifty years, it     4     (predict) that there will be a further 60%-100% increase in water usage by 2050.

This is not just     5     matter of turning the tap off when you brush your     6     (tooth), cutting your showers down to 3 minutes, or sharing the washing-load with your flatmates. In fact, daily activities of human make up less than 4% of our total water consumption, with the remaining 92%     7     (fall) into two ‘invisible’ categories: the industrial production of household items, and the production of food. Astonishingly, 69% of our total daily water consumption comes from the     8     (grow) and production of food alone.

    9     (unfortunate), there is no single go-to reference book for the exact number of liters used in the production of any individual food item. This is a hard pill to swallow, for we have other factors     10     (consider) when weighing up the benefits of every food choice: taste, cost and convenience.

A new study,     1     was published by the Rapid Transition Alliance has revealed that climate change will     2     (threat) global sports events over the next three decades. The report monitors climate change , development and global issues. Researchers said that     3     (near) all sports would be impacted by what they called “an accelerating climate crisis”. They highlight how major sports events     4     (interrupt) by the weather so far. Bushfires in Australia made playing conditions at risk at the Australian Tennis Open and heavy rain from a huge typhoon mined last year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan. The report predicts that fires, floods, heatwaves and     5     (rise) sea levels will cause greater damage.

Rapid Transition Alliance coordinator (协调员) Andrew Simms urged the sports industry     6     (do) more to become carbon-neutral. He said, “Sport provides some of society’s most     7     (influence) role models. If sport can change how it operates to act at the speed and scale necessary to prevent the climate emergency, others     8     (follow).” He added that the carbon emissions from sports events worldwide are equal to     9     produced by a medium-sized country. The report’s author, David Goldblatt, said sport should be more active. He said, “Making a carbon-zero world the priority of the sports world would make a huge contribution     10     the environment.”

The average Chinese person is getting around 90 minutes less sleep a day than 10 years ago, with the duration     1     (fall) from 8.5 hours in 2012 to just over seven hours last year, according to a report released ahead of World Sleep Day on Monday.

The report said Chinese people went to bed at around 12:33 a. m. last year, more than two hours     2     (late) than a decade ago. Jointly     3     (prepare) by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the sleep institute of mattress supplier Sleemon, the report said people are tending to sleep less and average sleep quality     4     (decline). The study surveyed more than 6,000 people aged between 18 and 71. More than 60 percent of respondents had less than eight hours of sleep     5     day. Surfing the Internet, long work or study hours, and sleep disorders such as     6     (sleepless) are major factors affecting sleep hours.

The Chinese Sleep Research Society also released a white paper last week     7     analyzed the sleep conditions of different groups in China. It said that more than 60 percent of teenagers use smartphones, play games and watch TV series     8     they should be sleeping. The white paper also looked at sleep     9     (pattern) among eight income groups. Those with no income slept best, followed by those on high-middle     10     (year) incomes of 300,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan.

With the rapid development of third-party mobile payment tools,     1    increasing number of consumers across China are using cashless payment methods.

Transactions(交易)    2    (involve) third-party mobile payments rose by 39. 1 percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared     3     the previous quarter to 74 trillion yuan. Although China has the most third-party payment accounts in the world, it is not the first country     4    (seek) a cashless society. Developed states like Sweden, Denmark and Singapore are also witnessing that increase.

However, the rapid development of cashless payments does not mean there are no challenges and criticisms. Alibaba’s Hema Fresh Store,     5     customers can shop, dine and order goods for delivery from their mobile phones via Alipay,     6    (come) into the spotlight recently. Media reports say that consumers can’t purchase goods with cash there, which would be considered     7    (legal).

Alipay and WeChat Pay, the nation’s two major third-party mobile payment tools, have also launched     8    (campaign) to encourage more merchants and customers to use cashless payment methods, which has caused concerns over     9     cash will soon disappear.

However, experts believe that a cashless society does not mean that cash will     10    (complete) disappear. As the economy grows, the circulation of cash is still very huge. In the long term, various payment methods will be used by consumers, and merchants should respect consumers’ payment habits.