1 . The idea of low material desire, low consumption and refusing to work, marry and have children, concluded as a “lying down” lifestyle, recently struck a chord with many young Chinese who are eager to take pause to breathe in this fast-paced and highly-competitive society.

Many millennials (千禧一代) and generation Zs complained to the Global Times that burdens, including work stress, family disputes and financial strains, have pushed them “against the wall”. They said they hate the “involution(内卷),” joking that they would rather give up some of what they have than get trapped in an endless competition against peers.

“Instead of always following the ‘virtues’ of struggle, endure and sacrifice to bear the stresses, they prefer a temporary lying down as catharsis (宣泄) and adjustment,” said a scholar. “It is no wonder that some young people, under the growing pressures from child-raising to paying the mortgage (按揭) today, would try to live in a simple way and leave the worries behind.”

Interestingly, the majority of millennials and Gen Zs reached by the Global Times, who claim to be big fans of the lying down philosophy, acknowledged that they only accept a temporary lying down as a short rest. It is true that with the great improvement of living conditions, some Chinese youth have partially lost the spirit of hardship and are not willing to bear too much hard work. But in fact, lying down is not entirely comfortable. Young people who lie down always feel guilty about their constant loss of morale (士气) far beyond their reach.

“Young people on campus have both aspirations and confusion about their future, but most of us have rejected setting ourselves up in chains to waste opportunities and challenges,” a postgraduate student told the Global Times. “It’s no use running away. I have to ‘stand up’ and face the reality sooner or later.”

2 . Have you ever run into a careless cellphone user on the street? Maybe they were busy talking, texting or checking updates on WeChat without looking at what was going on around them. As the number of this new “species” of human has kept rising, they have been given a new name — phubbers (低头族).

Recently a cartoon created by students from China Central Academy of Fine Arts put this group of people under the spotlight(聚光灯). In the short film, phubbers with various social identities bury themselves in their phones. A doctor plays with his cellphone while letting his patient die, a pretty woman takes a selfie (自拍) in front of a car accident site, and a father loses his child without knowing about it while using his mobile phone. A chain of similar events finally leads to the destruction(破坏) of the world.

Although the ending of the film sounds unrealistic, the damage phubbing can bring is real. Your health is the first to bear the effect and result of it. “Always bending your head(低头) to check your cellphone could damage your neck,” Guangming Daily quoted doctors’ words. “The neck is like a rope that breaks after long-term stretching.” Also, staring at cellphones for a long time will damage your eyesight gradually, according to the report.

But that’s not all--Being a phubber could also damage your social skills and drive you away from your friends and family. When getting together with family or friends, many people prefer to play their cellphones while others are chatting happily with each other and this creates a strange atmosphere, Qilu Evening News reported.

It can also cost your life. There have been lots of reports on phubbers who fell to their death, suffered accidents, and were robbed of their cellphones in broad daylight.

Going against the tide of flocking to well-known yet generally jam-packed tourist destinations on vacation, a     1     (grow) number of holidaymakers in China are spending their leisure time at lesser-known resorts to seek unique, relaxed holiday experiences.

In recent years, “reverse tourism"     2    (emerge) as a new trend among young holidaymakers in China. During the weeklong public holiday,     3     ended on Oct 7, large numbers of vacationers, especially young     4     (profession) who long to escape busy city life, avoided popular holiday destinations in order to get off the     5     (beat) track and enjoy some peace and quiet.

According to data from online travel agency Qunar, the number of rooms booked at hotels in less-traveled cities during the holiday was up 30 percent year-on-year. Some young people who normally have little time for     6     (they) simply had a staycation in a hotel to make the much-awaited pause     7     (relax) than staying at home. Besides crowds, some vacationers chose less-traveled places to save on the cost of trips to popular destinations, which often involve pricey tickets, meals and hotel stays. Different     8     popular destinations, some underexplored places with little online     9     (expose) can offer more surprises. So reverse tourism will become one of the future directions for the market and is     10     opportunity for growth comparable to the camping economy.

6 . You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Laughter is the best medicine.” Comedy on Referral has taken that idea and run with it, using standup comedy to help treat people struggling with trauma (精神创伤) and anxiety in partnership with the National Health Service (NHS).

The idea came from comedian Angie Belcher’s experiences teaching comedy at University of Bristol. She found that students often told her how much stronger and more resilient (有适应力的) they were thanks to standup comedy.

Inspired, she teamed up with the NHS in Bristol to create a six-week comedy course for patients struggling with trauma in January 2022. Following the success of this initial course, Comedy on Referral won NHS funding to help men with trauma in London.

Belcher said, “Past traumas are perfect for comedy. Comedy doesn’t come from the happy, perfect moments of your life, but from our everyday struggles and major life events. People who’ve been through big life experiences such as losing a loved one and ill health often can’t wait to tell me their stories, mostly because there’s always something especially funny about the situation.”

Research has shown that laughter has positive psychological effects, such as decreasing levels of cortisol—the stress hormone—and increasing endorphins (内啡肽). It can even have physiological benefits, although less research has been done in this area. Current research has linked laughter and humour with increased levels of pain tolerance as well as short-term cardiovascular benefits. More research is needed to prove these findings.

Nonetheless, the mental health benefits of regular laughter are widely accepted, and using comedy to treat mental health struggles could be a real breakthrough in the treatment of mental health.

Recently, Chinese people from all walks of life    1    (discover) their daily lives are filled with an academic term: involution (内卷). In agricultural economics, involution originally means that     2    (add) work is put into agricultural production for higher output,     3    , however, doesn’t increase proportionally (成比例地).

Our society is becoming increasingly competitive when population outgrows resources. Accordingly,     4    we used to achieve easily requires more efforts now. The level of competition we have in our society is often compared to millions of people    5    (cross) a single wooden bridge. The    6    (major) of us are trying hard to get ahead of others.

Netizens now use involution to describe their current conditions, especially in the study of children. Parents feel stressed    7    (provide) their children with the best, and children must keep    8    in the race. Though great efforts have been made, they find it much    9    (hard) to go to the schools that they have been looking forward to.

Too much pressure is bound to do harm to children physically and mentally. Parents should cool down firstly and relieve their own     10    (anxious), taking measures to rid their children of heavy burden from involution.