At present, more and more people around the world are learning Chinese. Last month, I     1    (receive) an email from my cousin Jack in Canada. He said he was enthusiastic     2     Chinese, and asked me to find him some books which were intended for Chinese     3    (begin). I was very pleased to do such a favor. So I went from one bookstore to another,     4    (hope) to find something     5    (suit) for him. Finally, I selected a set of Chinese     6    (textbook) among a variety of similar ones. Then I went to a post office to have them     7    (send) by air without delay. Several days later, I got Jack’s email saying that he     8    (real) appreciated the books he had received. I’m very glad to know the fact     9     Jack is starting to learn Chinese just like many other foreigners abroad, although I know it may be     10     enjoyable challenge for him.

【推荐3】Some of the most interesting words in English are the actual names of the people first involved in the activities that     1     (convey) by the meanings of the words. The word boycott, for instance,     2     (come) from the case of Sir Charles Boytt (1832-1897), a land agent in Ireland,     3     was ostracized (孤立) by his tenants because he refused to lower the rents. Vidkun Quisling’s name     4     (quick) became a bad     5     (add) to the English language during World War II. He was a Norwegian politician who betrayed his country to the Nazis, and his name, Quisling, now refers to “traitor”(叛徒). Perhaps a commoner name example, at least     6     young people around the world, is Levi’s. These popular blue jeans are named after Levi Strauss, the man who first     7     (make) them in San Francisco in 1850. Perhaps     8     most common of all is the sandwich, named for the Fourth Earl of Sandwich(1718-1792), who created this quick portable meal so that     9     would not have to leave the gambling table    10     (eat). Other words in this unique category include lynch, watt, davenport, and zeppelin.

Recently, a new exhibition building at the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, Sichuan province, has become an immediate tourist hot spot. The exhibits show the mysterious culture       1     (date) back more than 3, 000 years.

For those who cannot make     2     to Guanghan, an exciting exhibition based on digital technology, titled Hello Sanxingdui, provides them     3     a different chance. It is running at the Longfu Art Museum in Beijing until Feb. 29. It offers an     4     (education) and artistic time-travel experience. The journey     5       (begin) with a brief timeline of texts, photos and videos, showing how Sanxingdui was first discovered in the 1920s,     6     many objects were found by farmers.

Tan Ping, one of the producers of Hello Sanxingdui, says it is of great importance to inform the public about archaeological     7     (discovery) and developments in relevant research, while it relies on new ideas and techniques     8       (bring) people new cultural experiences. He says     9     exhibition like Hello Sanxingdui will help visitors know the life     10     the creativity of the people in the Shu kingdom.

Most of us are familiar with the “Silk Road”, a network of land trading routes which connected northwestern China to Europe since the Han dynasty. With its recent     1     (popular), you may have heard of the “Ancient Tea Horse Road” as well, another network of land trading routes that connected China to various     2     (part) of Asia and Europe before sailing became common. Historically, the “Ancient Tea Horse Road” is no less     3     (value) than the “Silk Road”. And because of their respective locations, sometimes the “Ancient Tea Horse Road”    4    (refer) to as the “Southern Silk Road”.

The “Ancient Tea Horse Road” got its name as Chinese tea and horses were the main products     5     (buy) and sold along the route. Historians have traced the origins of the “Ancient Tea Horse Road” back to the Tang dynasty,     6     tea was being transported out of Yunnan to Beijing, Tibet, and other places. The “Ancient Tea Horse Road” was     7     (far) developed during the Song and Ming dynasties, and remained     8     busy trading route all year round until the Qing dynasty.

The “Ancient Tea Horse Road” serves     9     not only a trading route, but also a bridge connecting different races -- such as Han and the Tibetan people. It is located near the “Roof of the World”, and is where many minority groups are located,     10     (make) it a spot of many attractions.

As winter comes, hands and feet can easily get cold. Thick gloves might be a good     1     (choose), yet sometimes wearing them is not convenient.     2    , this was not a problem for ancient Chinese people, who had a fine tool     3     (keep) their hands warm: hand warmers.

There is no     4     (write) record about the origin of this tool, but there is a story about its invention.

Emperor Yangdi from the Sui Dynasty visited Jiangsu in winter. Due to the bitter cold, the local official asked craftsmen to make a small warmer for     5     emperor that could be held in his hands. Thus the hand warmer     6     (create). By the Song Dynasty, the warmers had become popular among the common people. Skills for producing the tool were     7     (wide) used in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Made of bronze or ceramics (陶器), ancient hand warmers had     8     (vary) designs. Round, square and octagonal shapes are typical, and there were some other shapes     9     look like pumpkins, flowers and turtle shells.

Inside a hand warmer, simple coals were mixed with some flowers,     10     (produce) a pleasant smell when burned.