Many popular legends and poems are about the moon. They all show how Chinese people admire the moon.

The most famous legend is about the lady Chang’e. Long ago, people said there were ten suns in the     1    . Her husband Hou Yi shot down nine of them. The Empress of Heaven gave him a magic pill (仙丹) as a reward. This pill would make him live forever. However, Chang’e took the pill     2     accident. Then she flew to the moon and lived there forever.

Another legend tells the story of a woodcutter (伐木工) named Wu Gang. He had to cut down the tree     3     he once made the Jade Emperor (玉皇大帝) angry. But the magical   tree kept     4     back. So he had to work endlessly.

The moon     5     inspires (激发灵感) people to write poems. For example, Su Shi of the Song Dynasty wrote his famous The Mid-Autumn Festival Tune: Prelude to Water Melody (《水调歌头·明月几时有》) during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Many people have aloe vera (芦荟) plants in their homes. Aloe vera is a plant that is usually found in hot, dry places. It has long, green leaves, and it is a very hard-working plant. It can be used to     1     with cuts or burns. Aloe vera also cleans the air around it. Bad air may come     2     the paint on the walls of some houses. Aloe vera can make the air clean again. Aloe vera is also a good plant to have in your room at night when you sleep. It takes in the air you breathe out. The plant then gives off     3     air that you breathe in.

Growing an aloe vera plant at home is very easy! You can buy a plant at the store. Put it in     4     place where there is plenty of sunlight. Water your plant during the spring, summer, and fall.     5     you want more aloe vera plants, you can just break off part of the aloe vera plant. Then you can put this part in the ground to grow again.

With the sound of fireworks, we celebrate the Chinese New Year. But do you know? Chinese New Year is being celebrated by people     1     many more countries around the world!

This winter holiday, I went to Bangkok, Thailand. I was shocked by the sight. Many windows had posters saying “Happy Chinese New Year”     2     I first arrived in the city center. Many people were wearing red clothes. The biggest shopping area in Bangkok was decorated with many rabbits and a sign saying “Lucky Chinese New Year”! I     3     put on my qipao and walked down the street to enjoy the atmosphere. Many people from different countries smiled at     4     and said “hello” in Chinese.

At night, there were fireworks over the river in the city center, and the beautiful fireworks made me feel     5     to be born Chinese.

What a great vibe (氛围) of Chinese New Year from around the world!

Creating paintings with different kinds of grain is known as grain painting (粮画). It has made a small village in Hebei Province     1     and opened the way for this village to sell products.

Shoudong Village in Hebei Province developed 11 grain painting companies     2     four workshops. “It has set up the country’s first school to teach the art,” the local government said.

According to the records, local people have been creating paintings with grain since the Tang Dynasty (618-907). They use different kinds of grain and seeds as materials in different     3    , including sticking and cutting. Their works are rich with views, characters, flowers and birds in a special way.

Many local people make more money     4     creating grain paintings. The post-80s Shi Xianqiao, who has been interested in painting since childhood, began to create paintings with grain in 2014. She also built a grain painting workshop to     5     the local people. Their products are sold at home and abroad. The grain art gives people new ideas towards nature and life.

The images of Chinese dragons (loong in Chinese) appeared over 6,000 years ago. They are not the images which have any similarity with dinosaurs, as well as are different     1     western dragons. In fact, loong is not a     2     creature. It was created by ancient Chinese. Chinese combined the advantages of several animals to create the images, like snakes, horses and so on.

Loong was always regarded     3     a lucky animal by Chinese people to bring a good year for people. Besides this, it was a symbol of power and royal dignity in China. Only the emperors could put on the clothes with the images of loong. The images can be seen in the Forbidden City     4     the Summer Palace.

Nowadays, loong is still admired by Chinese and represents Chinese spirits. There are two festivals which have to do with dragons. On the Lantern Festival, each January 15th on the lunar calendar, people wave dragon lanterns to     5     the coming spring. And they also perform the dragon dance. On the Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, people hold dragon boat competitions. How interesting these activities are!

On March 4th, 2023, the Top Ten People who moved China in 2022 were showed on CCTV. Deng Xiaolan is one     1     them. The woman volunteered to teach children music in mountain village for 18 years.

Deng was born in Yijiazhuang village, Hebei Province in 1943. In Tomb-sweeping Day 2003, she returned to Malan to mark revolutionary (革命的) heroes. On that day, she met some primary school students in the village. She asked the children to sing a song     2     they couldn’t sing any one at all.

Deng felt sad about that, “Childhood without the sound of singing is very     3    .” After returning to Beijing, she decided to go back to the village and teach the children to sing. In 2004, she came to Malan Village. She had been thinking about how to help these children become more interested in music. So she set up the Malan music band and held the Malan Children’s Music Festival.

At the opening and closing ceremonies,     4     children’s clear voice echoed (回响) over the Bird’s Nest. Through over ten years’ hard work, these children from the village stood on the stage of the Olympic Games.

Unluckily, Deng died on March 22, 2022. In the last period of her life, she spent most of her time and     5     on music education for children in Malan village. All of these brought her happiness and satisfaction.

Hello, I’m John. I’m going to show you around my hometown.

Look! This is my house. It is on a farm. It has two floors. Most people here live in houses like this. There are many flowers and trees around my house. Every day, I     1     hear the birds sing and smell the flowers. There is a lake near my house. Sometimes we row a boat there.

There are about one hundred families in our town. Some families raise cows, and     2     grow wheat. People here know each other. They are all very     3    . There are buses to the town center every day.     4     my mother drives us there to do the shopping.

We enjoy our life here. I think it is a wonderful     5     to live in. I hope you can come and visit soon!