As night fell, the summer heat faded away. On the playground of an elementary school in Zunyi, Guizhou province, nearly 200 children and teachers    1    (sit) on their stools (凳子) to watch the movie 1921,     2    gives an account of the founding of the Communist Party of China.

In front of them was a large white projector (放映机) screen    3    (tie) to two bamboo poles. For most of the children, it was the first time in their lives that they    4    (watch) a movie on such a“giant” screen,as there is no cinema in the village.

Xu Longsheng, a 21-year-old from Beijing Normal University,and four of     5     (he) fellow students worked as projectionists. Although the story is set against a complex background containing many historical figures,most of the children were still    6    (attract) to it, asking the college students a lot of questions.

The event is part of a project, “Taking Movies to the Countryside”, which was    7     (recent) launched by Beijing Normal University and the China Film Archive.The university is scheduled    8    (send)12 teams of students and teachers to around50 rural areas, with Zunyi being the first stop and Ganzhou in Jiangxi province as the next destination. The project aims to improve aesthetic (美学的) education    9    rural areas, as well as providing the students majoring in education with    10    opportunity to get a taste of their future career.

The most difficult thing about celebrating the Spring Festival in     1     big city is finding a restaurant that is open. Almost all the shops close for a week or two, as workers and proprietors (业主) return to their hometowns     2     (celebrate) with their families. Cities like Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen,     3     half or more of the population moves in from elsewhere, are ghost towns.     4     (lucky), I like Lanzhou beef noodles; those shops mostly stay open.

In the countryside, it is completely opposite. Two years ago, a friend, Robin    5    (invite) me to celebrate the Spring Festival at his family’s home in Baichi village     6    the north of central China’s Henan province.The village residents were friendly and somewhat    7     (surprise) to see a foreigner. Much food    8     (eat) and beer was drunk at neighbors’   homes at supper. Without doubt, the drinking experience was unique. Almost everyone who came to Robin’s home brought a bottle of baüju or rice wine with them. Long     9     (table) were put in two rooms of the house, and each was covered with food.    10     your glass was empty, it would be filled quickly; if it was full, you’d better empty it!

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been passed down for thousands of years.     1     a profound culture and centuries-old history, TCM is the treasure of Chinese civilization. It is not only    2    (wide) used in Asia but also has become increasingly welcome in Europe and the United States. Frank Griffo is an acupuncturist in California     3     completed his master’s degree in TCM in 2005 at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco. He then spent seven years     4    (study) advanced acupuncture techniques and has been practicing for about 18 years. “There are more than 60,000 acupuncturists in the United States right now. Chinese medicine     5    (grow) dramatically in the last 15 years.     6     makes TCM stand out is that it is taking on a larger role in the medical system here as a safe and noninvasive method of treatment for many problems that Western medicine has    7    (difficult) providing good outcomes or treatment options for, ” Griffo     8    (say) in a video interview with China Daily on Monday. Americans have been receptive to acupuncture for decades. Griffo stated that acupuncture has been greatly accepted in the Caucasian, non-Chinese population and is     9    (popularity) in California. “In comparison with situation years ago, the attitude of American society towards TCM is     10    (positive) now. ”He told China Daily.

Tens of thousands of Chinese     1    (society) media users have backed calls from the country’s state media to have its artworks     2    (current) kept in the British Museum returned.

The topic “The British Museum please return Chinese antiquities (古董)” was in response     3     a piece published by Chinese state media Global Times that called for all cultural relics in the British Museum     4    (return) free of charge.

The British Museum has been under pressure after around 2,000 items were reported “missing,     5    (steal) or damaged” two weeks ago,     6    (lead) to accusations that it was failing to fulfil its duty of care.

The calls follow a piece published by the Global Times     7     argued, “The world-renowned British museum     8    (fail) to take good care of ‘cultural property belonging to other countries’ up to these years.”

The British Museum looks after 23,000 Chinese objects, from the Neolithic (新石器) age to the present day. It is one of the largest     9    (collection) of Chinese antiquities in the West. The collection includes     10     large range of precious items such as paintings, prints, jade and bronzes.

Recently, 16 Chinese online novels have entered a     1     (collect) in the British Library, including My Heroic Husband, Up in the Heaven and so on.     2     (cover) themes of science fiction, history, reality and fantasy, these works represent the classics of Chinese online literature over the past 20 and more years.

The British Library usually collects works     3     appeal to readers or when the books’ value is considered high. Now readers can check the information of the 16 books     4     the library’s website and borrow printed copies.

As the Chinese online literature industry has     5     (gradual) matured after two-decade development, it has received increasing acknowledgment from home and abroad. It has also attracted     6     increasing number of readers from overseas. One of     7     (large) online literature platforms, China Literature Group, has authorized the digital and print copyrights of more than 800 online novels to overseas.

China Literature’s international portal Webnovel,     8     (establish) in 2017, has seen nearly 100 million readers access     9     (it) library of more than 2,600 works that     10     (translate) from Chinese. Also, more than 300,000 writers from around the world have created over 420,000 works online.

You may think, salt is just a simple cooking element. Actually, salt is much more than that. Without salt our muscles would not move, and our heart would not beat. Salt means life.

But do not think rubbing salt in a wound will help. Doing that would be painful and not heal the wound. To rub salt in a wound is an idiom that means to     1     (purpose) make a bad situation     2     (bad).

Early     3    (explore) understood that if they could keep food fresh, they could travel longer distances. So they made good use of salt to preserve food and explored the world.

Salt was so important that it     4     (trade) pound-for-pound for gold in the past.

Today, people still use “to be worth one’s salt”    5    (describe) a person who is useful and valuable. A person might also be called “the salt of the earth”,    6     means he or she is dependable and trustworthy.

In many old stories, spilled salt is a sign     7     bad luck and trouble. Even today, if some people spill salt, then they will throw     8     over their shoulder.

They believe     9     (throw) salt behind them scares the devil.

But these stories about bad luck should be taken with a grain of salt. In other words, listen to a story or     10     explanation with suspicion and distrust.

As a part of the 2023 Beijing Culture Forum (论坛), the     1    (eight) Beijing October Literature Festival recently kicked off.

Respected writers such as Wang Meng and Mo Yan will hold a     2    (discuss) on literature with readers across the country. Throughout the event, bookstores, museums and local communities will host a number of literature-related     3    (activity). There will also be a good time for writers to collect material for their literary works, all working     4    (build) a widespread reading culture.

Furthermore, on Wednesday, a dialogue between overseas translators     5     Chinese writers will take place. They will discuss how to advance contemporary (当代的) Chinese literature through translation and cross-cultural exchange.

On Saturday, another event will     6    (hold) for people from all walks of life who     7    (be)born in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, including writers, college teachers and media figures. They will discuss topics such as survival and life in the Internet era, as well as the     8    (amaze) power of literary expression.

To celebrate     9     festival, a closing event will take the form of a concert. The Beijing Symphony Orchestra will perform at the National Cultural Palace with background music of film and television productions     10     are adapted (改编) from literary classics.