Torch festival of the Ethnic minority

The Torch Festival, the grandest festival of the Yi people, is held around the 24th day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar. The Yi people think fire possesses a superhuman power    1    can drive away evil and frighten off ghosts. They have    2    a special relationship with fire that they call themselves the “fire nationality”.

During the festival, torches, 20-30cm     3    diameter, a replaced upright in front of houses. At the entrance to the villages, a grand “torch tower”, standing more than 20 metres high and    4    (make) of pine branches and dry firewood,    5    .(decorate) with fresh flowers and fruits.

At last, with expectation and wishes    6    (come) the long-awaited moment. After dinner, as darkness casts its shadow, young and old,    7    (dress) in their most ceremonial and splendid costumes decorated with sparkling ornaments, rush    8    (excite) to the “torch tower” square. Cheers and screams of delight burst from the crowd, while the soaring flames brighten the darkness of the night and warm everyone present at the scene.

On such a brilliant and marvelous night, the    9    (participate) are overjoyed by the grand spectacle and the atmosphere of celebration. Young men and women sing and dance hand in hand around the bonfire    10    (express) their gratitude for a life of plenty and good wishes for the coming year.

Stove-boiled tea, a     1     (new) emerging social activity among young Chinese people, has been filling up social media feeds in recent weeks. Usually consisting     2     several friends who gather to sit around a fire stove, they together enjoy the smell of roasted snacks and     3     (social) while waiting for the tea to boil. In many ways, it is recognized as the perfect activity to while away the winter,     4     (warm) body and soul in the colder months.

While it has recently regained     5     (popular), cooking tea on a stove actually has along history in China, originating from huotang roasted tea,     6     unique practice of drinking tea in Yunnan province. Huotang is a type of kang, a stone stove, used for heating in Yunnan. It serves as an important source of heat and light that     7     (aid) cooking, sleeping, and even interpersonal relationships like gatherings in the households of ethnic minorities in the region,     8     creates a kind of huotang culture.

The tea used is often quite particular, requiring     9     (age) teas, such as Pu’er, or black tea, while fresh and tender teas, such as green tea, are not suitable for boiling.     10     (vary) of snacks are also the focus of stove-boiled tea—oranges, nuts, and a plate of exquisite Chinese pastries (糕点) are the best choices for your belly.

People have always had a dream of exploring outer space and with the help of scientists, their dream,     1     was once considered to be impossible, is turning into reality.

Scientists earned out many experiments and     2     (success) made rockets that could escape the earths gravity. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin from the USSR became the first person     3     (send) into space and in 1969, Neil Armstrong from the US set foot on the moon with the famous saying, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Despite the great achievements, sometimes accidents did happen, resulting     4     huge losses.     5     scientists are determined to further explore the universe. One ongoing project is the International Space Station orbiting the earth.

    6     (compare) with the USSR and the US, China started later in its space program, but it has made huge progress. So far, several astronauts, including Yang Liwei, have been to space. China has also launched the Tiangong 2 space lab,     7     (signal) a huge step in its effort to establish     8     space station.

It     9     (believe) that the future of space     10     (explore) is bright thanks to the efforts of the scientists all over the world.