Welcome back to the hot topic of studying abroad！ Last time, we talked about the general "soft- ware" needed to havea{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(success)  studying experience overseas, {#blank#}2{#/blank#}refers to the ability to understand western culture,  and problem solving skills when {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(face)  critical situations, etc.

      Now,1 will dig deeper into the concept of software".Everyone is talking about culture shock nowa-days, but you may wonder what itactually {#blank#}4{#/blank#}_(mean). Simplyput:  culture shock is the diffi-cultypeople may experience when being exposed and adjusting to a {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (remarkable) different new culture. Usually, people often go._{#blank#}6{#/blank#} four distinct phases: the honeymoon phase, thene-gotiation phase, the adjustment phase and the mastery phase. Culture shock can happen immediately upon your {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(arrive) in the country.

For international students, perhaps the most direct impact of culture shock is the variety of accents, especially in multicultural countries {#blank#}8{#/blank#}the U.S. Canada or Australia.There are two main reasons: Firstly, these countries have highly diversifiedgroups of residents from different cultural{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(background). Secondly,  there are many international students fromall around the world every year studying in these countries, so you shouldn'tbe surprised {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(find) allkinds of unfamiliar accents around the university campus.

    China has splendid culture with a long history. Chinese opera is one of the {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(old) dramatic art forms in the world.During the Tang Dynasty,the Emperor Xuanzong established an opera school {#blank#}2{#/blank#} the poetic name Liyuan (Pear Garden). Since the Yuan Dynasty, encouraged by court officials and emperors, it{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(become) a traditional art form. During the Qing Dynasty,{#blank#}4{#/blank#}became fashionable among ordinary people. Performances {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(watch) in tearooms, restaurants, and even on temporary stages.

    It developed from folk songs, dance, talking, antimasque(滑稽戏) and especially distinctive dialectical music. Gradually it combined music, art and literature into one performance on the stage.{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (accompany) by traditional musical instruments, actors present unique melodies which may sound strange to {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(foreign) as well as beautifully written dialogues, which are of high literary {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(valuable). These dialogues also promoted the development of distinct literary styles, such as Zaju in the Yuan Dynasty. For Chinese, especially older folks,{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (listen) to this kind of opera occasionally is {#blank#}10{#/blank#}real pleasure.

    One night last February, a seventeen-year-old Duffy drove home along a winding road, he saw a strange light thrown against the tree. “I knew it wasn't the moon”, he said. “I drive this road all {#blank#}1{#/blank#}time and I notice little things out of place.”

    Duffy stopped his car and got out {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(examine). Below him far down in the deep valley lay a broken car with its headlights on. Thirty minutes earlier, a man had driven off the edge of the road, which has no guardrail(护栏). His car fell and rolled end over end, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(land) on its top more than two hundred feet below.

    Duffy rushed to call for help, then returned and got down to reach the driver {#blank#}4{#/blank#}was badly injured. Snow covered the valley {#blank#}5{#/blank#}the temperature was below freezing. After struggling back up the cliff, Duffy took off his jacket and shirt and wrapped the man in time, along {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the blankets from his car.

    Life-saving {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(deed) are starting to become usual action for Duffy, the oldest of seven children. When he was 12, he saved his ten-year-old brother from drowning. Two years ago, his three-year-old sister {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(eat) rat poison, and Duffy {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(instant) cleaned out her mouth, make her drink milk to protect her stomach and called doctors.

    “We personal belief is that it is{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(meaning) for us to teach the children good values, and it looks like we have got some reward for it.” his father says.

    Traditionally, we usually get a general impression of {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (stranger) by the way they shake hands, talk, or walk. However, in the age of social networking, first impressions are sometimes made {#blank#}2{#/blank#} looking at their profile photos on social platforms like Twitter or WeChat.

    These social images say a lot about our personality, according to a recent study, in {#blank#}3{#/blank#} researchers used a software to analyze the profile photos to find out whether there was a connection between a person's personality and his profile photo.

    The result reveals that open-minded people are more likely {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (pose) with an object in their profile photos. Their {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (excite) faces can tell how much they enjoy their experiences. Meanwhile, neurotic (神经质的) people tend to choose photos of objects rather than selfies to avoid {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (look) too miserable because of the strong social practice against a sad or angry {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (appear) in profile photos.

    Apart from the objects in profile photos, the colors used in them also show {#blank#}8{#/blank#} outgoing the owner is. For example, extroverts (性格外向者) {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (find) to have the most colorful profile images, as they want to emphasize their personality.

    Next time choosing a profile photo, maybe we should ask {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (we) first what kind of image we'd like to convey. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

    According to an announcement by Sergey Kravtsov, Russian vice minister of education and science, Sputnik news reported, Russia's national college entrance exam will include Mandarin as {#blank#}1{#/blank#}elective foreign language starting from 2019. Chinese will become the {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (five) elective test item for the Unified State Exam in addition to English, German, French and Spanish.

    The number of Chinese learners in Russia {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (rise) quickly in the past decade, according to a survey {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (carry) out by a linguistic research center in Russia. Approaches {#blank#}5{#/blank#}learning Chinese vary from person to person, with more and more people {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(choose) university courses in Russia.

    The three-hour-long Chinese test will quiz students on {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (they) listening, reading, and writing abilities and a fourth section will examine students on grammar, vocabulary and Chinese {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (character). Some parts in the exam are even a little bit difficult for native Chinese speakers. Insiders from the Russia education industry confirmed those {#blank#}9{#/blank#}are with relevant professional background and Mandarin proficiency(精通) are more competitive in job application.

    According to the Office of Chinese Language Council International, some 100 million people, excluding native speakers, use Chinese {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (global).