My Stay in New York

    After graduation from university, I had been unable to secure a job in my small town. So I decided to leave home for New York,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}I might have a better chance to find a good job.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (earn) some money to pay the daily expenses, I started to work in a local café as a waiter. I believed that as soon as I{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(offer) a good position, I would resign at once.

    Over time, the high cost of living became a little burden on my already{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(exhaust) shoulder. On the other hand, my search for a{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(respect) job had not met with much {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (succeed). As I had studied literature at university, I found {#blank#}7{#/blank#} quite difficult to secure a suitable job in big companies. Mother had just said that if I wanted to have a better career advancement, I had to find work in the city. Perhaps{#blank#}8{#/blank#}my mother had told me was deeply rooted in my mind. I just did as she had expected.

    Soon I had lived in the city for over six months but I still did not like it. Apparently, I had difficulty {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(adapt) myself to life in the city, let alone finding a suitable job. After nine months of frustration, I eventually decided to go back to my small town. Not until I returned {#blank#}10{#/blank#}I realize that a quiet town life was the best for me.

    I am a new student of Senior High. I am interested {#blank#}1{#/blank#} our school life. Let me tell you something about it.

    Every morning I go to school at 7:00. The first class {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (begin) at 8 o'clock. We now have {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (many) subjects than in junior school, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} we are not boring. You know why? That's because we have so many good {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (teacher) now. Our English teacher is always {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (enthusiasm) and we are very excited to work with her. Sometimes, we have misunderstanding between us. For example, once we {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (tell) to guess the meaning of each word, and so we thought {#blank#}8{#/blank#} not necessary to remember these words. But now we try {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (keep) more words in mind.

    Our after-school activities are also colorful. Among so many activities, I like playing basketball very much with my classmates {#blank#}10{#/blank#}Wednesday afternoons. I believe my senior life must be enjoyable.

    Iceland is a land of volcanoes. Nowhere is {#blank#}1{#/blank#}（evident） than on the Westman Islands off the southern coast of Iceland. Here, {#blank#}2{#/blank#}（century） of volcanic eruptions formed many eye-catching sea cliffs （悬崖）, among {#blank#}3{#/blank#} one stands out: A part of the volcano-formed coast on Heimaey looks exactly like the head of a large elephant {#blank#}4{#/blank#}（stick）its trunk in the water.

    In fact, it looks so much like an elephant that many people think it must have been shaped by humans. That is not {#blank#}5{#/blank#} case, however. The elephant's realistic {#blank#}6{#/blank#}（appear）is, at least partially, due to the fact that the cliff {#blank#}7{#/blank#}（consist）of a special rock. The rock gives the figure "skin" that looks wrinkled and gray, just like that of a real elephant.

    The most common theory is that the rock formations came from the Eldfell Volcano, which {#blank#}8{#/blank#}（erupt）many times since the 1940s.

    In spite of the strong resemblance to an elephant, some people {#blank#}9{#/blank#}（actual）see something different when they look at the rock formation. They see the fictional character Cthulhu, a sea beast.

    Whether you see an elephant {#blank#}10{#/blank#} a fictional beast, as one of many attractions on Heimaey, the rock does draw curious sightseers.

    It seems that artificial {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (intelligent) can do much more than what we have ever imagined. From controlling the lighting in our homes to {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (help) us order pizza, AI has become an important part of our everyday life. But what about the more creative works of mankind? Art, music, poetry­these are inspired not by logic or reason, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} by emotion.

    In 2017, researchers in Switzerland created the "deep artificial composer (DAC)", {#blank#}4{#/blank#} can create original music all by {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (it). The scientists trained it to "listen" to over 2,000 different folk songs and {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (base) on this input, the AI taught itself how to get the pitch (音高) and timing and choose the right notes. Besides music, AI already {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (enter) the world of poetry as well. In 2018, Chinese and Japanese researchers wrote an AI program that uses images to write poems. Then the poems were sent to 500 human judges, who were asked to tell {#blank#}8{#/blank#} they were written by a human or a computer. The result showed that as {#blank#}9{#/blank#} as 200 judges mistakenly thought they were written by a human.

    So if you were {#blank#}10{#/blank#} artist or a musician, would you watch out?

    Inserting needles through the skin may sound scary, but acupuncncture and moxa-moxibustion, two key components of {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (tradition) Chinese medicine (TCM), are said to improve the patient's health and well-being.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (add) to UNESCO's representative list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010, acupuncture and moxibustion are {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (wide) practiced in China. Their format and practice have distinctive regional characteristics and they have a precious heritage based {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Chinese culture and science.

    The theory of Chinese medicine believes the human body is a small universe with {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (it) own circulatory system, in this system, there are acupoints (穴位) connecting the channels. By stimulating these acupoints, the self-regulating functions of the human body can {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (promote). Acupuncture refers to the practice of inserting needles into the body of a patient at a certain angle and using {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (technique) such as twisting and lifting the needles to excite acupoints {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (treat) diseases. Moxa-moxibustion normally refers to placing moxa (艾) directly on acupoints or holding moxa sticks at {#blank#}9{#/blank#} distance to warm the body.

    In 1995, the World Health Organization published {#blank#}10{#/blank#} can be treated by acupuncture and moxibustion. TCM has become more and more accepted by other countries in the world.

    Out of the 20 little things you've always wondered about, one of them {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (probable) has to do with the small {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (five) pocket on your jeans. By now, you might have given up on trying to use it since it's too small to fit anything you actually need. But why is it there in the first place? Well, today, it doesn't really serve {#blank#}3{#/blank#} purpose, but it used to in the late 1800s.

    Actually the small pocket is called a watch pocket because it was originally intended as a safe place for men to store their pocket {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (watch). It {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (date) back to Levis first ever pair of jeans, which hit the market in 1879.

    The Levi Strauss blog also pointed {#blank#}6{#/blank#} that originally, there were only four pockets on a pair of blue jeans, the watch pocket {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (include). "The first blue jeans had four pockets—only one in back and, in the front, two plus the small, watch pocket," the blog stated.

    So next time you find {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (you) standing casually with your thumb hooked in that small pocket, know that it originally {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (use) to store a pocket watch. And now that we've got to know the tiny jean pocket, find out {#blank#}10{#/blank#} blue is the most common color.