What’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you think of wheat straw? Most people would probably just see     1     as a pile of waste in a farmer’s field. However, Wu Cui,     2    intangible (无形的) cultural inheritor, can turn the straw into beautiful and eye-catching functional artworks. The earliest straw-weaving products     3    (discover) at Hemudu Cultural Ruins in Zhejiang province. In 2008, straw weaving was listed     4     a national intangible cultural heritage.

Wu explains the process of straw weaving: selection of materials is the first step of a complicated, time-consuming and labor-intensive process that can take     5     (week) or even months to complete. You need to sketch the piece on paper,     6     requires drawing skills. Next comes weaving, shaping and     7     (preserve) of the work. Even by finishing that process, it does not mean that you will always create a good piece of work, and the hardest part is     8    (make) it lifelike.

When     9    (ask) about her plans, Wu says she wants to dig     10    (deep) into local traditional culture and create more cultural creative products by developing the straw-weaving technique.

Li Shizhen(July3, 1518--1593) was a Chinese physician, scientist and herbalist of the Ming Dynasty. His major     1     (contribute) to clinical medicine was his book Bencao Gangmu. He also developed many creative methods for the proper classification of herb components( 成分) and drugs to be used for treating diseases.

Bencao Gangmu is a medical text with details about     2     (approximate) 1,800 drugs. It also describes the type, form, flavor, nature and application in disease treatments of 1,094 herbs. The book has been translated into many different languages, and is considered     3     the premier reference work for herbal medicine.

In     4     course of writing Bencao Gangmu he travelled to many places,     5     (gain) first-hand     experience     with     many     herbs     and     local     treatments.   He     6     (refer)   to   over   800 books--nearly every medical book in print at that time.

Altogether, the writing of Bencao Gangmu took 27 years, which included three revisions. Unfortunately, Li died in 1593. It was three years     7     the book was officially published in 1596.

Even to this day, Bencao Gangmu still has scientific, medical and historical significance. There was even a movie     8     (make) about Li Shizhen’s life in 1956. His name can     9     (find) at almost every traditional medical college in China and in many books about Chinese medicine. There is even a Li Shizhen award for “doctors and researchers     10     have been devoted to traditional Chinese medicine ”.

A 16-year-old girl from Changsha, Hunan Province, reached the top of Qomolangma with success,     1    (become) the youngest Chinese female to conquer (征服) the world’s highest mountain from the southern slope.

Xu is a first-year high school student. In April, she left Changsha for Nepal, began her trek(涉) from Lukla, arrived at the base camp    2     started her altitude adjustment training. At 10 pm Beijing time on May 14, Xu started trekking from Camp 4 at    3       altitude of 7, 950 meters. After a hard 10-hour climb, she    4    (successful) reached the top.

Xu’s father was the first person from Hunan Province    5    (reach) the top of Qomolangma. Influenced by her father, Xu     6    (explore)remote areas with him since she was very young. Despite her young age, Xu has already climbed five mountains over 5, 000 meters in China. Although Xu has rich climbing experience, she gets high-intensity    7    (profession) training non-stop to conquer Qomolangma. Last year, she climbed Mount Muztagata,     8       stands 7, 546 meters.

”Human beings    9    (be)small in the face of nature. We should respect nature and get closer to Qomolangma,” said Xu. She hopes to conquer the highest peak in each of the seven     10    (continent)and to be able to reach the North Pole and South Pole one day.