Chinese Bullfighters Bring Martial Arts (武术) to Their Sport

Several times a week. Ren Ruzhi battles an opponent (对手)that is five times     1     (he)weight and strong enough to kill him. He is skilled in fighting bulls (公牛), an animal known     2     its aggressive behavior.

Ren teaches the Chinese martial art of kung fu. The 24-year-old’s mixing of martial arts and bullfighting     3     (worry) his mother. However, Ren has never been hurt. He says that     4     (battle) the bull makes him feel energized. “It symbolizes the     5     (brave) of a man,” Ren told the Reuters news agency in the city of Jiaxing, China.

Bullfighting may be more famous in Spain,     6     it is usually very bloody, while the Chinese form of bullfighting is not so     7     (violence). Instead it combines moves from the sport of wrestling with the skill and speed of kung fu     8     (bring) down animals weighing up to 400 kilograms.

Han Haihua, a former wrestler, teaches bullfighters at his Haihua Kung Fu School in Jiaxing. Han said the     9     (physical) demanding sport requires fighters to train intensively and they usually have short careers. Han described     10     form of bullfighting he teaches as the explosive power of hard “qigong”, saying it combines the skill and speed of martial arts with traditional wrestling moves.

【推荐2】阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Attention, Orange and Washington county residents: If you’ve ever wanted your middle schoolers to put down their phones and take a walk in the woods, we’ve got     1     interesting after-school activity for you. Starting     2     September 1, 2022, the   program allows middle schoolers   in Orange and Washington counties to spend three hours every weekday afternoon at Sage Mountain Botanical Reserve (保护区). From 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., outdoor educators will lead them to study animal tracks, help them learn shelter building,     3     teach them to make   a fire. The activity     4     (design) for youth who might not have access to nature-based activities. The reserve,     5     (build) in 1987 by Rosemary Gladstar, has been running youth programs, including summer camps and school field trips, for 30 years, though this is the     6     (one)   after-school activity. Director Emily Ruff said that this program can create a safe place     7     children can   play and explore their world, and identify their gifts. It can help children develop problem-solving     8     (skill) to build a deeper level of learning, and children can also build connection with     9     (they) and the   natural world. It is     10     (benefit) to those who takes part in it.

Have you tried to run or walk for exercise and then given up? If you answered yes, you should try a new kind of exercise: aquatic (水中的) exercise. Aquatic exercise     1    (be) like exercise on land, but you do it in a     2    (swim) pool. More and more people are trying aquatic exercise.

Aquatic exercise feels     3    (easy) than exercising on land. Why? You weigh about 90% less in the pool.     4     is better for your knees than running or walking. Water is about 1, 000 times thicker and heavier than air. To move through the water, your body has to work four     5    (time) as hard. As     6     result, you can burn more calories (卡路里).

In fact, most people say they feel more relaxed in the water. They stop     7    (think) about the things that make them worried. They feel in control of their bodies. The cool, quiet environment makes     8    (they) feel good.

But what if you are afraid     9     the water? No problem! There is nothing to worry about. Aquatic exercise is safe and easy    10    (learn). It doesn’t require any special skills. You don’t even need to know how to swim. Aquatic exercise is for everyone.

The drum     1     (accompany) Chinese civilization for thousands of years and has a deep spiritual meaning which takes its existence far beyond a musical instrument. Confucius regarded the “Drum Dance”     2     (high). It is also the origin of the Chinese phrase “guwu”     3     means “embolden” in English.

The earliest reference to the drum in China is in the Pottery Age. The Zhou dynasty     4     (establish) the drum music institution that was responsible for the management of officials known     5     “drum men” and developed a complete drum music system. From then on, drums came to be used in ancient Chinese     6     (practice) such as sacrifice, military, labor and other activities.

In ancient China, agriculture was the main form of production and drums     7     (consider) inseparable for a good harvest. Since the sound of drums echoes that of thunder, it was believed that     8     (play) drums could attract rain.

Dozens of types of Chinese drums exist today. For instance, “Taiping Drum” is used to express hope for peace and prosperity(繁荣)     9     “Ansai Waist Drum” is meant to show the spirit of the Loess Plateau (黄土高原) and the heroic character of farmers in Northwest China.

The prosperity of drum culture reflects the     10     (stable) and prosperity of Chinese society. For thousands of years, drums have been played in the backdrop as the society lives in peace and contentment.