The Lantern Festival arrives as the first full moon of the new lunar year lights up the sky.     1     (know) as Yuan Xiao Jie in Chinese, it falls on February 15 this year.     2     one of major traditional Chinese festivals, it is celebrated on the 15th of the first lunar month,     3     (mark) the end of celebrations of the Chinese New Year.

It is time     4     (admire) lanterns, guess lantern riddles and watch lion or dragon dances and art performances. In addition to diverse lanterns and games, another important tradition of the festival     5     (be) eating glutinous rice (糯米) balls, known as yuanxiao or tangyuan. In     6     (vary) regions across China, people prepare different foods to mark the occasion.

Yuanxiao are popular in northern China while tangyuan dominate (控制) the south. They are both soft glutinous rice balls with fillings. Although similar in     7     (appear), there are some differences in terms of cooking and storage. Yuanxiao should be boiled for at least 10 minutes, while tangyuan can     8     (serve) after around five minutes of cooking. The former have shorter durability period while the latter can be stored for     9     (long) time when kept in cold environment.

The practice of eating these rice balls is a way of     10     (pay) respect to the moon and praying for family reunion, harmony and happiness.

Thundering drums, yelling crowds and energetic, boatmen, such scenes of excitement     1    (be) not rare across China on Duanwu, or Dragon Boat Festival,     2     falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month each year.

Although tales of its origin differ, the two-thousand-year-old festival is widely celebrated     3     memory of Qu Yuan, a great poet during the Warring States Period (475—221 BC).

When Qu realized his country’s decline was beyond recovery, he became so unhappy that he killed     4    (he) on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Legend has it that the     5     (local) rowed boats to save the poet and threw zongzi, or sticky rice dumplings, into the river to keep fish from eating his body.     6     tradition was passed down in China and even traveled across borders.

A host of other practices are also associated with Duanwu. The fifth day of the fifth month is considered unlucky and     7     (poison). To drive away the bad luck, many people,     8     (especial) those in South China, take herbal baths and hang special plants over their doors. Some people even wear little bags     9     (stuff) with Chinese herbs, all with nice smells,     10     (scare) away the bad spirits.