1 . “The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence（篱笆）.”That’s an old saying in English. It means that other places often look better, more interesting than the place where you live.“Let’s go to KFC for dinner and then watch some Japanese cartoons!”We all know it: more and more Chinese kids love American and Japanese food and movies. Some people worry that young Chinese are beginning to feel that way. They see young Chinese ignoring Chinese culture and, instead, buying Japanese cartoon books, watching Korean soap operas and even celebrating western holidays.

Foreign books and soap operas are good, but Chinese writers and actors are just as good. As for holidays, Christmas is nice, but it can never have the meaning for Chinese that the Spring Festival has, and the West has nothing to compare with the Mid-Autumn Festival. China has lots of cool things in its culture: calligraphy, Beijing Opera, quick meals on the streets, and even Jay Chou! And let's not forget the part of Chinese culture I like best: its friendliness. Not all countries are as warm as China.

It’s good to enjoy other cultures and to learn from them, but they can never replace your own culture. It’s good to look on the other side of the fence, but make sure you take a good long look. You will find that the grass isn’t always greener.

Although some people become worried about that, I don’t think they should. Will we get more powerful without learning from other countries? Will Chinese people live more happily without American fast food? Besides, it's fun to learn about different cultures. Chinese kids can learn about other cultures and have fun, but they also need to learn more about their own culture. Be proud of Chinese culture and of being Chinese!

2 . Last week Meituan co-published a proposal with a number of business organizations including the China General Chamber of Commerce and China Cuisine Association, calling on restaurants to stop food waste and help form new eating habits for customers. “Restaurants should use means of publicity using official accounts on social media and live-streaming to promote and advocate food-saving actions,” the proposal said.

Catering associations in more than 18 provinces have also joined the campaign to eliminate food waste. On Friday the China Cuisine Association announced that it had teamed up with Ele. me, the Alibaba Group Holding-owned food delivery platform, to launch a “half-dish plan”, encouraging restaurants to provide customers with the option to order smaller portions.

To control food waste on social media platforms, popular Chinese video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou have stepped up content reviews of food-related live streams and carry out regulation of online eating shows. Now if users search certain keywords, such as “eating show” or “competitive eaters”, a cautionary message pops up to remind them to cherish food and keep a reasonable diet.

Across the country about 20% of all the food ends up in the trash. That food waste costs the average family of four about ¥1,500 a year. It also takes up valuable space in landfills. Now it is time to get customers to rethink their relationship with food and waste.

3 . An immigrant is a person living in country that is not their own, often in a culture with which they are not familiar. There are, of course, translation and interpretation services available to recently arrived minority groups in most host countries. However, it is more important to provide motivations for language learning for immigrants to accelerate their integration.

The language barrier increases intercultural misunderstandings. Those seeking work are at a disadvantage due to subjective factors such as employers fearing migrants are unable to learn a trade because of language problems. In workplaces where the majority of employees are from the same linguistic background, which is other than the host language, there is the danger of apathy setting in and it is therefore necessary to encourage immigrants to take advantage of whatever language tuition not only to help integration but to achieve self-improvement.

The general tendency is to acknowledge that the government should provide money for the teaching of the language. The British Advisory Board on Naturalization and Integration stated that some of the pressure for English language classes could be reduced by employers taking responsibility for the language needs of migrant workers. As for their children, a high percentage speak languages at home other than that of their country of adoption which increases the burden on schools to provide an adequate standard of linguistic education.

The goal is for immigrants to become “anonymous”. For example, many Turks in Germany have lost their “visibility” as poor workers to become “invisible”---thus not immediately recognized as foreigners--- but as professionals (doctors, engineers, etc.).

Apart from the responsibility of governments and education authorities, the duty also lies with the individual migrant families. Of course they should not lose sight of their own cultural identity and cross-cultural exchanges should be promoted to improve the understanding between immigrants and the host population. At the same time, parents must be ready to adapt to their new situation and not influence their children who, through the host country education system, will learn the language quicker and wish to integrate into the local society.

5 . When you are having dinner, do you eat up all the food on your plate or have some leftover（剩菜剩饭）? According to the UN, 1. 3 billion tons of food is wasted around the world every year. That’s about one - third of all food produced each year.

We make a survey in 34 countries to see how much food is wasted in different countries. For example, the UAE（阿联酋） wastes the most food, with each person wasting about 1, 000 kilos every year on average. However, some countries have worked hard to use their food resources wisely. France wastes the least amount of food, according to the survey.

France was the first country to pass laws that stop food waste. It’s not allowed to throw away fresh food. Another law forces French restaurants to provide bags for people’s leftovers.

China ranked 23rd for food waste in the survey. China’s food waste is around 18 million tons every year, enough to feed up to 50 million people for one year. Facing this situation, China has been working hard to reduce food waste. Since early 2013, a movement to prevent food waste called “empty plate” has begun. It has become popular among both government officials and general public.

6 . It is natural that young people are often uncomfortable(不自在) when they are with their parents. They say that their parents don’t understand them. They often think that their parents are out of touch with modern ways; that they are too serious and too strict with their children; and that they seldom give their children a free hand.

It is true that parents often find it difficult to win their children’s trust and they tend to forget how they themselves felt when young. They show that they have grown up and they can face any difficult situation. Older people worry more easily. Most of them plan things ahead, at least in the back of their minds, and do not like their plans to be upset(扰乱) by something unexpected.

When you want your parents to let you do something, you will have better success if you ask before you really start doing it.

Young people often make their parents angry with their choices in clothes, in entertainment and in music. But they do not mean to cause any trouble; it is just that they feel cut off from the older people’s world, into which they have not yet been accepted. That’s why young people want to make a new culture(文化) of their own. And if their parents do not like their music or entertainment or clothes or their way of speech, this will make the young people extremely happy.

Sometimes you are so proud of yourself that you do not want your parents to say “yes” to what you do. All you want is to be left alone and do what you like. It is natural enough, after being a child for so many years, when you were completely under your parents’ control.

If you plan to control your life, you’d better win your parents over and try to get them to understand you. If your parents see that you have a high sense of responsibility(责任), they will certainly give you the right to do what you want to do.

Do you find it hard not    1     (check) your phone every couple of minutes? Do you respond to notifications (通知) as soon as they come in? If so, you're not alone, and you might be interested to know what    2     (make) us keep checking our phones.

As we know, when we do get the rewards: a like, a follower, comments or shares of    3     (we) posts, it excites the brain and produces a chemical    4     (call) dopamine (多巴胺). This is a chemical    5     provides a "feel-good" response to these rewards. Meanwhile,this dopamine hit can become addictive    6     encourage us to go back to our phones hoping fora reward again. This addictive loop is one of the biggest     7     (reason) why we are checking our phones every couple of minutes.

So, what are some of the ways we can break this addictive loop so that real life does not pass by? The first is to turn off all notifications on your phone so that you cannot    8    (disturb) by the attractive messages. Next is to put your phone out of sight, in a drawer or in another room. This is particularly    9     (help) if you are preparing yourself    10     exams.Finally, look for and create opportunities for gaining dopamine hit in other ways, such as exercise or music.

8 . Social media is often a collection of highlights of people’s lives rather than a true reflection of reality. Although it can be a great tool to keep up with the lives of our friends, families and celebrities, it can also be pretty damaging as we judge our lives in comparison to those we see online.

One woman shared her experience which showed exactly why we shouldn’t believe everything we see on social media. After heading to the pool, Jen watched as a young mum and her daughter entered, dressed in swimming suits. The mum took a few selfies (自拍) with her child. Jen said the young girl then asked if they could get into the pool but was told to wait while her parent took a photo of her in front of the pool.

“Mama glanced over at her but never got off the phone,” Jen wrote. “After 10 minutes mama ended her call, and then they left the pool. I sat there thinking about what I’d witnessed for a while afterwards. I imagined the photos she took being perfectly edited and posted so social media with a caption like ‘Pool time with my girl!’ ”

Jen then thought about another mum at home, in a messy house, tired because she’s spent her day cooking, caring, cleaning and playing with her children. “She’s going to look at that photo and she is going to compare herself to the ‘perfect mama’ at the pool. She’s going to feel like a failure. She’ll never know that how she spent her time that day was so much better in her children’s eyes than that ‘perfect mama’ at the pool.” Jen wrote.

What we see on social media isn’t always real. Sometimes, and often, it’s a complete set-up. Jen later added that she in no way intended to judge the mum for her actions or her reasons for doing it, but simply wanted to say that the edited photos we see on social media “are not a full depiction of real life”.