Chinese people often say they dream about the Duke of Zhou. Is the Duke of Zhou a real person?

Yes, he was a politician who lived during the Western Zhou Dynasty. His actual     1     was Ji Dan. He was the brother of King Wuwang of Zhou.

The Duke helped his brother beat the Kingdom of Shang     2     set up the dynasty.

However, after two years, King Wuwang fell sick and wanted the Duke to     3     the king, but the Duke refused. King Wuwang’s oldest     4     then came to power—he was known as King Chengwang.

The Duke     5     his best to help his nephew. When his nephew came of age, the Duke handed over power.

Confucius regarded the Duke of Zhou     6     a great politician. He studied the knowledge passed down from the Zhou Dynasty from a young age. He even dreamed about the Duke quite often. While serving the State of Lu, Confucius advised its ruler     7     run the state with rituals, but the ruler didn’t listen to him.     8     many years, his idea still didn’t have much support. Already an old man, he said that he was     9     old to dream about the Duke of Zhou. Later, people started using “    10     about the Duke of Zhou” to mean remembering great men of the past. Today, it simply means going to sleep.

【推荐3】Marco Polo

It is difficult to imagine what the world was like in 1254. Europe was living in an age that we call the Medieval Period (中世纪). It was a time of many wars.

It was in that time that Marco Polo was born in Venice, Italy. Life in Venice was d    1     from life in most of Europe. Venice was a city of beautiful buildings and water canals (运河). Many businessmen did business in Venice. Marco Polo’s father and uncle were businessmen. They had traveled to a far-off country called Cathay. (Cathay is now called China.) There they had friends with the great ruler, Kublai Khan(忽必烈). He i    2     them to return to Cathay.

When Marco Polo was seventeen years old, he began a journey to China with his father and uncle. They sailed the Indian Ocean and crossed the desert and mountains of Asia on camels. The journey to China took three years.

Kublai Khan greeted the Polos and sent them lots of gifts. He was especially impressed (留下印象) with Marco, who could speak four l    3     including Chinese and others.

Khan sent Marco on many trips a    4     China. On these trips, Marco saw many amazing things that he had never seen in Europe, such as coal used as fuel, paper money i    5     of coins, and papermaking and printing processes. Marco made many notes about life in China.

After almost twenty years in China, the Polos began their journey home to Italy. Kublai Khan gave them many gifts of ivory, silk, jewels, and jade.

When they returned to Venice, they found their city at war. Marco Polo was put in prison. He spent his time w    6     a book about his years in China. The book is called Descriptions of the World. It became the most p    7     book in Europe. Because of the book, many people in Europe learned about life in China.

The 70-year-old Mr. Green is a rich man. He lives alone in the countryside. His only friend is a parrot. One of his     1    （hobby）is collecting jewels. He keeps his jewels in different safe boxes     2     home.

Green’s memory is a bit poor and he often forgets things,     3    （include）the passwords to his safe boxes. However, he has a way     4    （help）himself remember the passwords. It     5    （work）well for a long time.

But one day, he was     6    （surprise）after returning home to see that the safe boxes were open. They were empty. His jewels were gone. There was only     7     note left behind that said: “Thanks for your jewels. I took all of     8    （they）. You should find a     9    （safe）way to remember your safe box passwords.”

Do you know     10     Mr. Green remembered his passwords? Haha, Mr. Green taught his parrot to remember the passwords. The robber got them by talking with the parrot.