In AD79, the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, in southern Italy,     1     (destroy) by a volcanic eruption that buried many of its buildings. Archaeologists (考古学家) have been observing it for almost 300 years but now they have a new tool for     2     (understand) how Pompeii might once have looked—virtual reality(VR).

Researchers Danilo Campanaro and Giacomo Landeschi, from Lund University in Sweden, used data collected by drones (无人机) flying     3     the ruined Roman city to create a 3D computer reconstruction of one of its most     4     (impress) buildings. They then fed the reconstruction into a video game system called Unity     5     (make) a VR model. The idea is not just to recreate the buildings     6     to understand a bit more about how Roman people might have experienced them. Campanaro and Landeschi asked     7     (volunteer) to take a virtual tour of the house in both summer and winter light. The researchers used special eye-tracking technology to record     8     (exact) which areas people looked at and for how long. From this, the team concluded that the building used clever design to draw attention to objects that showed off the wealth and status of     9     (it) owner — perhaps a man called Lucius Valenius Flaccus,     10     ring was found in the ruins.

Earlier this year, the Ugandan Ministry of Education introduced the Chinese language as a subject in secondary schools to some 60, 000 students and urged them     1     (acquire) the language in the next four years. Uganda is not alone in adding the Chinese language     2     the school curriculum. Other African countries, including Tanzania, South Africa and Cameroon, have already made the similar     3     (decide) .

Besides having six Confucius Institutes, South Africa has rolled out Chinese language courses at 45 primary and secondary schools. More and more young people in this country are     4     (gradual) turning to the language as a way of     5     (find) their dream jobs in China.

Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Lin Songtian said that Beijing had provided technical and financial support to improve Chinese language teaching in the country. “Over the past 16 years, China and South Africa     6     (conduct) all-round cooperation (合作) in such fields as inter-school exchanges, language teaching and academic research and achieved     7     (amaze) outcomes,” Lin said. Sept. 17 has been chosen as South African Chinese Language Day     8     is to be observed annually.

Angie Motshekga, South Africa’s minister for basic education, said that teaching the Chinese language has been at the heart of education and cultural exchanges between Pretoria and Beijing     9     that language is the key to promoting understanding and friendship between the two     10     (people).

Double Ninth Festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. It is one of the     1     (popular) traditional Chinese festivals. According to traditional Chinese yin and yang theory, nine is a yang number, therefore it     2     (name) Double Yang Festival. For some time in history,     3     was called Mountain-climbing Festival and Zhuyu Festival, as there was a custom of climbing mountains and wearing zhuyu (a herb). According to Miscellary of the Western Capital     4     (write) by Liu Xin in the Han Dynasty, as early as in the West Han Dynasty,     5     practice of wearing zhuyu and drinking chrysanthemum wine(菊花酒) on Double Ninth Festival was popular, and it was considered     6     (benefit) to people’s health and longevity. It occurs in the middle of autumn and peasants use the day     7     (celebrate) the harvest with varied activities:

Viewing chrysanthemum on the day is a delight. Chrysanthemum are flowers     8     smell sweet and blossom despite cold, frosty weather. At flower shows, thousands of chrysanthemum are     9     display. People appreciate them, poets write odes about them and artists paint them.

Drinking chrysanthemum wine is another custom. It is said that the chrysanthemum wine is good for one’s eyes and helps bring blood     10     (press) down.

According to the traditional Chinese calendar (日历), for every 19 years there will be seven leap months. “Leap month”     1    (refer) to a repetitive month. Rather     2    (interesting), there are two Februarys in 2023.

There are     3     variety of traditions and customs during leap month in China. They are quite     4    (fascinate) for you to explore. In some parts of East China’s Shandong province, the married daughters send toads (蟾蜍) and fish     5    (make) of dough (面团) to their parents.     6    (live) near Wuyi Mountain in East China’s Fujian province, the local people have the tradition of drinking tea at leap month, and only women     7    (allow) to take part. The daughters who are married usually buy pig’s feet and thin noodles for their parents,     8     is unique for people in Southeast China’s Taiwan province. Various historical and cultural factors have contributed     9     the diverse customs. Do they successfully arouse your     10    (curious)? The leap February has arrived. Are you prepared with your gifts?