【推荐1】Who were the     1     (popular) stars during the winter holiday? Maybe the Beijing 2022 mascots(吉祥物). Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon. As we know, it was hard     2     (get) Bing Dwen Dwen during that time. Now you can see     3     (they) on the big screen! The movie Me and My Winter Games     4     (come) out in February, 2022. This is the first time in Olympic history that mascots have starred in a movie.

In     5     movie, Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon travel to four different     6     (world) and meet many friends, such     7     the Monkey King, the Calabash Brothers, Vick and so on. They visit the Snow and Ice Fair. They pull together to challenge the scary but     8     (excite) skating games. They have trouble getting away from the snow storm.     9     the journey is full of risks, they spend a happy and surprising vacation.

“Our film is a gift for Beijing 2022.” said the movie’s producer. “Through it, we show the cheerful, open and     10     (confidence) spirit of China.”

Many people enjoy watching movies in a cinema. They think the cinema is a     1     place to enjoy the movie than home. But in     2     opinion, people are happier and freer when they are watching movies at home.

    3     movies at home is more comfortable. Firstly, you have to buy a     4     before you go to cinema for a better seat. However, there is no need for people at home to     5     about the ticket. They can enjoy movies at any time they like and with the     6     comfortable seat.     7    , people don’t need to face any traffic problems. Thirdly, it is free to watch movies at home. In the cinema, we can’t go outside     8     the movie won’t wait for us. Sometimes, if we miss part of the movie, we can’t     9     the story. At home, we can pause (停顿) at any time and go back to watch the part.

All in all, a cinema is a good place to watch     10    , but it isn’t the best place to enjoy the movies.

What should you do if you have a headache? In modern times, people often take aspirin (阿司匹林). But is aspirin     1     (real) a modern medicine?

More than 4,000 years ago, ancient Egyptians used dried leaves to treat pain. And in the fourth century B.C., a medicine made from tree bark (树皮)     2     (use) to treat fevers. In the nineteenth century, European scientists discovered that both medicines have the same chemical (化学物质). They used the chemical to make a modern medicine-aspirin. Today, it’s one of the world’s     3     (cheap) and most helpful medicines.

Some of the medicines we have today come     4     traditional Chinese medicine. In the third century B.C., some people     5     (begin)studying the human body. They tried many different ways to treat the patients and recorded     6     (they) results. For more than 2,000 years, doctors recorded     7     they found in books. These ancient books are still useful today. Tu Youyou, a Chinese medical researcher, found that in     8     past, people used a herb with yellow flowers to treat fevers. After studying it, she developed a medicine that saved millions of people from dying.

For     9     (century), Western medicine paid little attention to traditional Chinese medicine. But today, scientists are studying traditional treatments     10     (develop) new medicines.

【推荐3】How do we know about things that happened thousands of years ago, when there were no videos or photos? One answer is written records. The earliest written records of Chinese civilization (文明) are known     1     oracle bone inscriptions (甲骨文). 

More than 3,000 years ago, people in the Shang Dynasty (16th—11th century BC)     2     (like) to ask fortune tellers (占卜师) about the future. For example, what will the weather be like next week? Where should I go to make money? Will my wife give birth to a boy or a girl? From work to love, people asked questions about many topics. The fortune teller would write the question on     3     oracle bone, heat it up, and then read the cracks (裂纹) in it     4     (find) an answer. 

Tens of thousands of oracle bones have been found so far. They can tell us a great deal about how people lived during the Shang Dynasty. “They help us understand the origins of Chinese philosophy (哲学) and thought, and figure out     5     our culture comes from,” Song Zhenhao, a leading oracle bone expert. 

In addition to telling us about ancient Chinese culture, the oracle bones are also key to     6     (understand) the growth and     7     (develop) of the written form of the Chinese language. Many of the characters we use today are similar to those that     8     (use) 3,000 years ago. “The oracle bone inscriptions, as the earliest-known mature (成熟的) form of Chinese characters, represent the beauty and uniqueness of a language     9     has been passed down consistently (持续地),” said Chen Nan, a professor at Tsinghua University.

In 2017, UNESCO added oracle bone inscriptions to its Memory of the World Register (“世界记忆”名录). They are indeed a     10     (value) memory of ancient China.