Pixar is one of the world’s     1     (famous) and successful film studios.     2     (it) latest animated film, Soul, was released in 2020. Soul tells the story of Joe Gardner, an aspiring jazz musician living in New York. One day, after an accident, Gardner ends up in the Great Before — a place where souls must “find their spark” before entering a human body. When Gardner     3     (give) the job of mentoring a soul called 22, he tries to find his way back to Earth.

Peking Opera is     1     form of traditional Chinese theatre which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in the late 18th century and became     2     (full) developed and recognized by the mid­19th century. The form was extremely popular in the Qing Dynasty court and has come to be regarded as one of the     3     (culture) treasures of China. Major performance troupes (剧团)     4       (base) in Beijing and Tianjin in the north, and Shanghai in the south. It has also spread to other countries such as the United States and Japan.

Peking Opera comes     5    four local operas, Hui Opera in Anhui, Han Opera in Hubei, Kun Opera in Jiangsu and Qingqiang in Shaanxi. It has drawn the merits of these local operas and created its own style.

Speech, song, dance and combat     6     (be) the four classic performing arts in Peking Opera, which are also the basic     7     (skill) for performers and is usually trained since the performers are very young. There are many roles in Peking Opera, mainly Sheng, Dan, Jing, and Chou, each of     8     has its own costume and mask­paintings. Masks with different colors have different meanings, which is used     9    (represent) the character of the roles and illustrate their emotional state.

No China trip is complete without     10     (watch) the classic Peking Opera! Enjoy the fantastic Peking Opera!

Over 2,200 years ago, Emperor Qinshihuang, the first Emperor in Chinese history, established ( 建 立 ) the official Chinese writing characters. The new characters made writing calligraphy     1    (little) difficult. It allowed people to use characters with more straight strokes, thus     2    (make) it easier to write with brushes. This     3    (create) the clerical script (隶书). Over time, other changes were also made,     4    eventually led to the formation of the five styles in Chinese calligraphy. As     5    result, calligraphy became     6    (wide) accepted. Calligraphy also had its practical     7    (value) because it was a good way to make friends and was more presentable as a gift rather than jewelry or money. Does calligraphy still have these practical functions now? Yes. Many people practice calligraphy as a way     8    (raise) their cultural achievement. Older people use calligraphy writing as a method to keep fit. They believe that when a person concentrates on writing calligraphy, his inner happiness is inspired. I had thought computer would lead to the     9    (disappear) of Chinese calligraphy. Now I understand that’s not likely to happen. How can you give your boss computer-printed calligraphy as a gift? You don’t,     10    you want him to fire you!

The Dragon-Head-Raising Festival falls on the second day of the second lunar month every year, with the dragon     1     (wake) up from its winter hibernation (冬眠) and after the day, rainfall increases.

Traditionally, the dragon is believed to live in the sky     2     he takes charge of bringing rain, which is an important factor in ancient agriculture society. There is an legend     3     one year a drought     4     (strike) a village. Blue Dragon, having compassion for people, gave them some rain without permission. To punish the Dragon, the Jade Emperor imprisoned it in a mountain and said he would never release it     5     gold beans bloomed.     6     clever villager found that com kernels (玉米) were golden like soy beans and more importantly, they could bloom when     7     (roast). Then the man led all the villagers to worship the Jade Emperor with bloomed corm kernels. To keep his word, the Jade Emperor had to release the Dragon on the second day of the second Chinese lunar month. Since then, the Dragon-Head-Raising Festival     8     (celebrate) in various ways in China to show     9     (admire) for the Dragon. The most famous tradition is getting a haircut,     10     (mean) getting rid of bad luck.

During China’s dynastic period, emperors planned the city of Beijing     1     arranged the residential areas according to social classes. The term “hutong”, originally     2     (mean) “water well” in Mongolian, appeared first during the Yuan Dynasty .

In the Ming Dynasty, the center was the Forbidden City,     3    (surround) in concentric (同心的) circles by the Inner City and Outer City. Citizens of higher social status     4     (permit) to live closer to the center of the circles. The large siheyuan of these high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen often     5     (feature) beautifully carved and painted roof beams and pillars. The hutongs they formed were orderly, lined by     6     (space) homes and walled gardens. Farther from the center lived the commoners and laborers. Their siheyuan were far smaller in scale and simpler in design and decoration, and the hutongs were narrower.

Hutongs represent an important cultural element of the city of Beijing. Thanks to Beijing’s long history     7     capital for six dynasties, almost every hutong has its stories, and some are even associated with historic     8     (event). In contrast to the court life and upper-class culture,     9     are represented by the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven, the hutongs reflect     10     culture of grassroots Beijingers.