As archaeologists explored ancient tombs in Turfan in western China, they discovered some surprisingly well-preserved and hardened dumplings.

Exactly     1     invented dumplings remains a mystery. But some scholars suspect they were first spread around the ancient world by peoples living in western China and Central Asia more than 1,700 years ago.

Dumplings continued to take off and diversify in China over the next thousand years. Instead of the     2     (tradition) meat filling, some communities preferred vegetable dumplings. And because wheat was     3     (hard) to grow outside of northern China, those in other regions began making dumplings using rice and sweet potato. The relationship     4     Chinese dumplings and those in other areas is hard to trace, but food historians     5     (make) their best guesses based on available clues.

Turkic (突厥) tribes spread and     6     (eventual) established the Ottoman Empire around 1300 CE, bringing wrapped food west with them.

Some scholars believe that the Mongol Empire also helped dumplings go farther, perhaps     7     (introduce) them to parts of Eastern Europe. These dumplings could have come by way of China or directly from some of the Turkic peoples the Mongols hired to run their empire.

Later, after Chinese dumpling     8     (variety) were introduced to more countries, English speakers began calling them dumplings. The term is thought     9     (use) firstly in 16th century England to describe dough balls dropped in liquid. During the Second World War, Chinese “jiaozi” was brought to Japan,     10     it became known as “gyoza” and was more typically pan-fried.

Tay grew up working beside his father and brother in a kitchen. While his dad cooked, Tay would wash dishes and help     1     other work. Years later, after his dad and brother had passed away, Tay decided he would honor their legacy (遗产) of bringing     2     (smile) to people through food! The only problem was that he had no idea how to cook.

Instead of     3     (give) up, Tay began watching tutorials (教程) on the Internet     4     (careful). After a few days of online studying, Tay and his wife Sarah were able to open a restaurant of their own. They cooked by     5     (them) and provided countless people with delicious barbecue classics.

Up till now, the restaurant     6     (offer) jobs to more than 60 people in their community, and thousands of people have been there     7     (get) a taste of Tay’s cooking! “I never pictured all this happening. You can dream but to see things fall into place is     8     (excite),” Tay said. At present, he no longer needs tutorials to help improve his cooking skills, but he hasn’t forgotten this unique teacher.

“First, I ran from it, and then it was a hobby, and then it just fell into place. When you’re really doing     9     you love to do, it makes sense,” Tay added. What     10     beautiful way to honor his father and brother!

007 in the Kitchen

As a man who cheerfully sing in the shower without any embarrassment, I won’t feel shameful to admit that I also love playing loud music when cooking in the kitchen. But     1     might make things a tiny little bit awkward is the type of music I play, and consequently the feelings I derive (获得) from it.

One of     2     all-time favourites is the James Bond Theme. Immersed (沉浸) in the tension it creates while chopping veggies into small pieces, I always find it impossible     3     (not picture) myself as a well-trained special agent with license to kill. And all of a sudden moving to the music without missing     4     beat seems to have a lot to do with national security.

As the music plays, the killer instinct in my blood is unleashed (被释放), which makes     5     (fry) a piece of bloody steak as easy as taking candy from a diabetic (糖尿病的)man who no longer wishes to eat candy. All I need to do is to act promptly without mercy.

However, there will be other times when the success of the whole mission counts on whether I    6     remove the bones from the fish. Believe it or not, the complexity of this process is no     7     (great) than that of defusing (拆除)a time bomb. So in this scenario,     8     giving in to the music easily, I must constantly and consciously control myself so as not to be carried away. After all, a fish-bone     9     (catch) in the throat is as uncomfortable as it can be.

Of course, in the end,     10     impossible the mission seems, like the plot of every Hollywood spy movie, the cook can always save the day.