Fill each of the following blanks with one suitable word.
A year in China teaches you,among other things,a great respect for the elements.I don’t suppose that _1_ climate here is any worse than that of,say,New York.The big _2_ is that,unlike New Yorkers,the people of Peking don’t live in comfortably heated and air-conditioned buildings.The other day,hailstones ,the size of hens’ eggs smashed my window and a neighbour’s car windscreen.Huge electric storms rip the sky in summer.In spring,blinding clouds of dust blow in _3_ the Gobi desert and winds _4____ the topsoil from the bare earth.
A year in China teaches you other things,too,and not least how wrong most of your suppositions were.The Chinese,it is well known,are rather short,drink tea with their meals and do not _5_____ their emotions.The Chinese,in my observation,answer to none of those descriptions.
I would guess that Chinese people below the age of,say,25 are taller _6___ their counterparts in London.Not as heavy,almost certainly,but taller.
I have never seen ___7___ from North China drink tea with a meal,though they do in Hong Kong.