Many strange things happened before Tangshan earthquake happened. The well walls had deep cracks. Some     1     (smell) gas came out of wells. Chickens and even pigs were too nervous to eat.     2     3∶42 a.m. on 28 July 1976, everything began to shake. It seemed as if the world     3     (come) to an end. Hard hills of rock became rivers of dirt. In less than one minute, the whole city     4     (lie) in ruins. Two thirds of the people died or were injured. Everything in the city was     5     (destroy). People were shocked at this and wondered how long the disaster would last.

The army organized teams to dig out those     6     were trapped and to bury the dead. Workers built shelters for     7     (survive). Fresh water and food were taken to the city. Slowly, the city began     8     (breath) again. With strong support from the government and the tireless efforts of the city’s people,     9     new Tangshan was built upon the earthquake ruins. It has proved that in times of disaster, people must unify and show the     10     (wise) to stay positive and rebuild for a brighter future.

UN Chinese Language Day is celebrated annually on April 20. The event was set     1     by the UN Department of Public Information in order to get equal use of all six of     2     (it) official working language throughout the organization.

The first Chinese Language Day was celebrated in 2010 on the 12th of November. But since 2011,     3     date has been the 20th of April. It’s because Chinese Guyu is the 6th of 24 solar terms in the traditional Chinese calendar, usually just     4     (begin) around the date, April 20. Each year they will celebrate Guyu in memory of one of the     5     (famous) people: Cangjie, who was believed to create Chinese characters. There’s a story that when Cangjie     6     (create) Chinese characters, it rained millet (粟); Guyu in some way means “rain of millet”.

    7     (help) people learn about Chinese characters based on symbols, the Chinese Language Day for 2021 was especially organized. In the building of the UN in New York, three events which were organized by an organization connected to the UN, focused on three types of Chinese characters based on symbols. The three events were a     8     (guide) tour of the Liangzhu Museum, a language class on Dongba words, and a lecture on the history of Chinese characters,     9     were held from April 19 to 21, 2021.

Chinese was allowed to be an official language of the United Nations in 1946. However, in the early years, Chinese was not commonly used in the work of the United Nations. The situation improved after the     10     (restore) of the lawful rights of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations in 1971. Then Chinese was included as a working language. Then more and more UN offices and work members work with the Chinese language.

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is Qixi, widely     1     (regard) as China Valentine’s Day. But do you know the origin of this     2     (romance) festival?

The story goes that the Weaver Girl     3     (fall) in love with a cowherd. The Jade Emperor was strongly against the couple’s union and then separated them by the Milky Way, leaving them torn apart by the galaxy and only allowing them     4     (meet) once a year.

    5     that, the distance could not stop their love for one another and they looked forward to meeting once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

However, with the development of high speed railways, the tragedy of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl could not happen in modern China. A ride between Beijing and Shanghai on the high-speed rail only takes four hours. The     6     (efficient) of modern travel has shortened the”galactic distance“ between couples.

On Qixi, more and more young people are going on dates and exchanging gifts to express their affection,     7     are quite impressive. Love is in     8     air at the gate of the Civil Affairs Bureau(民政局), and long queues     9     (form) when couples rush to register for marriage. This is because Qixi carries     10     (it) a symbolic meaning: choose your own love and remain faithful to life.

Dumplings are one of the Chinese people’s favorite traditional    1    (dish). According to    2    ancient Chinese legend, dumplings were first made by the medical saint-Zhang Zhongjing. There are three steps    3    (involve) in making dumplings: first, make dumpling wrappers(饺皮)out of dumpling flour; second, prepare the dumpling stuffing(馅); finally, make dumplings and boil    4     (they). With thin and elastic dough skin, fresh and tender stuffing, delicious taste, and unique shapes, dumplings    5     (be) worth eating hundreds of times. There’s an old    6    (say)that claims, “Nothing could be more delicious     7    dumplings”. During the Spring Festival and other holidays, or when treating relatives and friends, Chinese people prefer    8    (follow) the custom of eating dumplings. To Chinese    9     (people) who show high reverence(尊敬)for family love, having dumplings at the moment when the old year is replaced by the new is a    10    (meaning) part of bidding farewell to the old and greeting the new year.