Qingdao International Beer Festival has become a major event in the beautiful city. The first festival took place in 1991. It is now held once a year from the end of July to the end of August,     1     (last) for about one month. Qingdao is the     2     (large) beer production base in China and the festival provides a great chance     3     (show) the city’s unique characteristics. With     4     history of over 30 years, Qingdao International Beer Festival is a nationally     5     (recognize) event, and combines together tourism, culture and sports. As one of the most important     6     (festival) of China, it has a worldwide reputation and attracts millions of people to take part every year. More than 100 brands (品牌) from all over the world     7     (join) in the event over the past 16 years successfully. Every year daily performances     8     (give) at Beer Town’s Center Theatre, where colorful fountains, hi-tech laser shows and dramatic audio effects excite audiences. Whether walking on the roads, shopping in the local stores     9     even catching a ride in a taxi, you will constantly hear people talking about the festival.     10     (obvious), after 16 years of development, the festival has become part of local people’s daily lives.

Edinburgh, located in the southeast of Scotland, is     1     capital of Scotland. With     2     (it) museums, shops, wonderful historic castles and many restaurants, there are many     3     (interest) things for visitors to enjoy all year round.

Besides, there is more to have fun in Edinburgh. Each year, the Edinburgh International Festival takes place in the city. In late summer,     4     three weeks, the festival presents classical music, theatre, opera and dance throughout the city. Whatever your cultural tastes are, you are sure     5     (find) something to enjoy.

So far, the Edinburgh International Festival     6     (earn) its reputation (声望) as one of the world’s     7     (great) celebrations of the arts. The founders believed     8     the programs should be of highest possible artistic standard     9     that the festival should enrich the cultural life of Europe.

The popularity of the festival led to the birth of another festival soon—the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Both of them have been     10     (wide) popular over the past 70 years.

A short video showing a member of the cleaning staff at the Summer Palace in Beijing explaining Buddhist scenic spots drew a lot of traffic     1     different social media platforms recently, with netizens marveling at his mastery of traditional Chinese culture. He has been dubbed the most powerful cleaning monk by netizens,     2     (original) appearing in Chinese writer Louis Cha’s novel Tianlong Babu.

In     3     video, the worker, Zhang Xu, 40, explains the cultural connotations of the sites to several tourists.     4     makes it special is his recitation of a list of dozens of hard-to-pronounce Buddhist sites. He     5     (speak) with such ease and confidence that it seems he is doing a tongue twister. People thought he must be a tour guide or expert, yet he was wearing the uniform of a janitor and holding a broom.

The video was posted by the researchers on social media platforms on Oct 7 and immediately became a trending topic online. Netizens expressed     6     (amaze) at how ordinary people can become the     7     (expert) in certain areas. Zhang said he had not thought of becoming famous online, as he only wanted to help the tourists who seemed     8     (puzzle). He told Beijing Daily that he     9     (be) interested in architecture since he was a child.

Zhang joined the cleaning staff at the palace in late 2021. “The traditional architecture of the palace is not just an assembly of bricks and layers. These elements are friends who have deep history     10     know how to speak to people who understand them,” he said.

Autumn Equinox

Autumn Equinox (秋分), the 16th solar term of the year, lies at the midpoint of autumn,     1     (divide) autumn into two equal parts. After that day, the location of direct sunlight moves to the south, making days shorter and nights longer in the northern hemisphere. Since the Autumn Equinox, most of the areas in China have entered the cool autumn.     2     the cold air southward meets the declining warm and wet air, , precipitation (降水) is     3     result.

As     4     (say) in the ancient book, The Detailed Records of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), “It is on the Autumn Equinox day that the Yin and Yang are in a balance of power.” Thus the day and night are of equal length, and     5     are the cold and hot weather. “In South China, there is a custom     6     (popular)-known as ‘having Qiucai (autumn vegetable) on the Autumn Equinox day. Every Autumn Equinox day’, all the     7     (village) go to pick Qiucai in the wild, which is taken back and made into soup with fish,     8     (name) Qiutang (autumn soup).”

On Autumn Equinox day, there are thousands of people in the world trying to make eggs stand     9     end. According to experts, on the Spring Equinox and Autumn Equinox, the earth’s axis (轴), on its 66.5 degree tilt, is in a relative balance of power with the earth’s orbit around the sun. Thus it is an     10     (easy) time for people to practice the game.