【推荐1】For centuries, children in North China wore tiger-head shoes. The shoes are so named because the toecap (鞋头) looks like the head of a big tiger. The traditional shoes are much like the animal itself.

It was until about 30 years ago, the shoes began to ________. However, Hu Shuqing, 51, from Henan Province, has spent many years ________ more than 10, 000 pairs of the shoes. She will give most of them to public museums, so that the next generation and the one after can see them. Chinese people began making tiger-head shoes in ancient times. The ancient people believed images (图像) of the animals, which were thought of as the king of beasts, could protect their children. That's one ________ why the shoes can still be seen now. On the other hand, the shoes look nice and can keep warm. In the north of China, it is very cold in winter. The shoes are good for keeping babies’ feet warm.

Tiger-head shoes have many ________. Some people change the images of tiger heads into frogs or peacocks, while more designs ________ spiders, snakes and scorpions (蝎子).

Hu was born ________ a family of paper cutters. Both her mother and grandmother could also make tiger-head shoes. “My daughter wore the shoes her grandma made when she grew up,” she said.

But her hobby for collecting the shoes did not begin until 2000, when she found a ________ pair at a Spring Festival market. “The images of tigers on the ________ were   embroidered (刺绣) according to paper-cutting patterns,” she said. From that day on, she has collected the shoes. She ________ collected in her home town, then in other provinces such as Hebei and Shandong.

Hu often goes collecting ________ September and December. “Kids wear tiger-head shoes in winter,” she said. “They are pretty and warm.”

Tony is Chinese American. His family members gather together and serve a traditional Chinese meal once a week. Last week, Tony _______ his friend Amy for it.

Tony's family _______ dinner when Amy arrived. The father was cooking vegetables with hot oil. The kitchen was filled _______ a lot of good smells. "You can help me set the table," Tony told his friend. They gave each person _______ pair of chopsticks, a soup bowl, a soup spoon, and a rice bowl on a plate.

"Where are the forks and knives?" Amy asked.

"Oh, you won't need those," Tony explained. "Don't worry. I will show you how _______ chopsticks."

Tony's mother put different foods _______ were strange to Amy onto big plates. She asked the kids _______ the dishes out to the table. Amy carried roast duck. It was one of the few dishes she knew.

Amy was _______ nervous about eating with chopsticks. Tony gave her instructions on how to do it. Amy finally managed to hold the chopsticks. Just _______ she picked up a piece of chicken in her chopsticks, her fingers suddenly lost control of them, and the chicken flew into Tony's soup with a splash (飞溅). ________ at the table smiled.

At the end of the meal, Amy ________ a fortune cookie（幸运饼干）. She broke it open and read the small note inside, "________ you practise hard, you will learn many things." Amy laughed and said, "If you let me take home a pair of chopsticks, my fortune ________ come true.

For centuries, the power of Chinese emperors rose and fell with their control of the Grand Canal (京杭大运河) . Today, this important waterway is shorter than it once was, but it is _________ the longest man-made river in the world, and continues to play an important role in modern China.

Construction begins

The earliest canal system began around the year 605, when Emperor Yang _________ that—in order to feed his army—he needed a way to move food quickly from China’s southern rice-growing region to the country’s north. People worked to build the first section of the Grand Canal, which connected existing canals, lakes, and rivers. Construction took six years and was completed in 611. Over the next 500 years, the canal’s importance grew throughout China.

A nation’s lifeline

The Grand Canal was also an important cultural connection. Soldiers, businessmen, and artists transported ideas, foods, and cultural practices from one part of China to another along the country’s watery highway. According to legend (传说) , this is _________ Beijing came to have two of its best-known trademarks (招牌) : Beijing duck, a dish from Shandong Province in the south, and Beijing opera from Anhui and Hubei, also in the south.

The modern canal

For more than a thousand years, goods have been transported along the Grand Canal. Even today, the country’s watery highway plays an important _________ role in China. Boats continue to carry tons of coal food and other goods to points between Hangzhou and Jining. _________, local governments eager to increase tourism and real estate development are working to beautify areas along the canal.

This development comes at a price, though. In Yangzhou, the city has torn down almost all of the older canal-side buildings. Farther south in the cities of Zhenjiang, the _________ is similar. In Hangzhou, for example, almost all of the ancient buildings have been pulled down. In 2005, a group of citizens proposed that the historic Grand Canal be made a UNESCO World Heritage site, to protect both the waterway and the architecture around it. The hope is that the Grand Canal, one of the world’s great engineering achievements, will continue to link north and south China for centuries to come.