China will become the guest country of honor for the 37th International Kite Festival in Berck-sur-Mer from April 20 to 28. It’s the first time that the festival     1     (introduce) the concept of guest countries since its     2     (establish) in 1987.

During the nine-day event, the China Cultural Center in Paris will join hands with Weifang city in Shandong province,     3     is known as the “kite capital of the world”,     4     (show) the most authentic Chinese kite art and cultural experience to the audience. Various cultural activities will take center stage,     5     (include) kite competitions, cultural performances and workshops on intangible cultural heritage.

The International Kite Festival in Berck-sur-Mer is the largest and     6     (influence) kite-themed event in France. Visitors can not only observe     7     wide variety of kites, traditional and modern, small and giant,     8     also engage in kite-making workshops, art performances and experiential activities.

In addition     9     regular kite displays, this year’s festival will debut the international kite stunt competition,     10     (call) “The World Kite Cup Berck-sur-Mer”. Kite-flying masters from ten countries and regions will compete for the world champion title in a showdown of skills and creativity.

Featuring cutting-edge equipment, new classrooms encourage     1    (create) thinking and an interest in the sciences among high school students across the country.

Brought     2     in a remote town in Northwest China’s Gansu Province, 12-year-old schoolgirl Liao Wenting was surprised to find that the head-mounted displays and robots that she had seen in sci-fi films could be within arms’ reach.     3    (she) school, Wenxian No. 2 High School, which is located at the foot of rolling hills in Bikou town of Wenxian county, has     4    (recent) built a high-tech-empowered classroom.

The classroom,     5    (cover) 137 square meters, features multimedia teaching systems, virtual reality headsets, 3D-printing equipment and other high-tech devices. Students can also experience such technologies as augmented reality(增强现实), laser cutting     6     educational robotics.

Its construction     7     (complete) in December 2022. Since then, the school has opened two elective courses in the classroom, graphical programming and 3D printing, each of     8     has attracted 120 and 20 students, respectively.

The facility, donated by the All-China Journalists Association and tech giant Tencent, is the first such high-tech-empowered classroom in Gansu. Additionally,     9    (motivate) youngsters and inspire continuous exploration in the field of technology, Tencent will offer free training services for the school’s information technology teachers and organize regular scientific and technological     10    (competition) from time to time.

The city of Zibo has never seen so many visitors.

As the sun begins to set, the aroma of sizzling meat falls the air and draws in more     1     (hunger) customers. On each street, queues stretch outside restaurants for more than a hundred meters. Some restaurants even run out of key ingredients as early as 7p.m.     2     the night. All hotels are also operating at full capacity.

The city was barely known by outsiders     3     it went viral on Chinese social media platforms recently. Most visitors are young people, who share their experience of traveling to Zibo to experience the city’s barbecue culture on social platforms,     4     (attract) even more visitors.

Zibo- style barbecue’s classic three-piece set contains roast lamb, green onions, and nan bread, which,     5     (combine), make a mouth-watering combo (组合). The fame of Zibo barbecue used to be limited to just Shandong Province.     6     (previous), barbecue in Northeast China was much more popular across the country.

Behind Zibo’s sudden fame     7     (be) the efforts and services of the local government, as well as a good reputation of local businesses,     8     receive favorable reviews from visitors who share their experiences online.

To promote Zibo-style barbecue, Zibo has launched two dozen “special barbecue trains,” where local tourism officials would serve tourists     9     (they). At the city’s train station, shuttle buses transport tourists to various barbecue stalls directly. Netizens joke that the high-speed trains     10     (pack) with visiting tourists and that the air onboard is filled with cumin.

Once when I was six years old, I saw a magnificent picture in a book. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in    1    act of swallowing an animal whole, without chewing it.

I pondered deeply over the adventures of the jungle. And then I drew a picture with a    2    (color) pencil, which I     3    (name) Drawing Number One. Showing it to the grown-ups, I asked them    4    the drawing was frightening.    5    my surprise, they answered, “Frightening? Why should anyone    6    ( frighten) by a hat?” It was not a hat. It was a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant. Since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing-Drawing Number Two. I drew the inside of the boa constrictor so that they could see it    7    (clear). However, this time, the grown - ups ’ response was to advise me    8    (lay) aside my drawings of boa constrictors and devote myself to geography , history , arithmetic and grammar .

And that is why , at the age of six, I gave up the career as a    9    (paint). Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and    10    is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them. So then I chose another profession and learned to pilot airplanes .

John Li is a Chinese high school student     1     came to the UK as part of a language exchange program.     2     (fortunate), he stayed with a lovely host family and went to school with their son, Daniel. The British school day     3     (last) from 9 am to 4 pm and students usually have to learn nine subjects including some     4     (option). The classes are different from     5     (that) in China because each teacher has their own classroom and the students move around for every lesson. He enjoyed most of     6     classes, but some of them were quite     7     (challenge), such as Geography and Biology. He     8     (eat) at the school canteen     9     after lunch he often played on the sports field with his friends. Besides, he joined some clubs     10       (meet) more British students.

In a word, he met some great people and learnt a lot about life in the UK.

My husband and I were watering     1     (flower) in the yard when an old man passing by     2     (stop) to talk with us. He asked us to guess his age and I thought he was 75 years old. However, that was     3     (obvious) wrong. He was actually 94! He said he couldn’t find people to talk to. I invited him to sit on our bench. I asked him     4     was the secret to his longevity (长寿). He told me that he had been a rich lawyer before retirement but he wanted a     5     (peace) mind. Then someone advised him that he should try to help others to have peace of mind.

Then, the new friend made a     6     (contribute) to charity. He gave away all his pension (退休金). He said he lived with his son and didn’t need the money. He enjoyed     7     (talk) and accepted my offer of some desserts (甜点). After a few minutes, the desserts for his son     8     (pack) too and he gave me a silk scarf as     9     gift. I am grateful for this chance, which makes me know that if you want peace of mind, do be helpful to others. This chance also reminded me     10     a valuable idea: To practice peace!

I’d like to share with you an experience, which makes me realize a small kindness can really make     1     big difference.

At the beginning of my teaching career, I had a student    2    ( name) Simon, whose grades were     3     (extreme) low. However, he was a bright student. The other day, I was working in my office     4     his mother entered the room. She kissed me on my cheeks, which surprised me beyond speech. Because     5     me, he had changed greatly. She told me how thankful she was.

I sat,     6    (wonder) what had just happened. Finally, I realized that several months before, Jeanne spoke quietly in front of the class when giving duty reports.    7     (encourage) her to raise her voice, I asked her to speak up so that Simon could hear. I said “Simon is the expert on this.” From that day on, Simon smiled     8     (much) than before. The boy who needed praise happened to be the last kid in the last row. It     9    (teach) a valuable lesson, which helped me a lot in     10    ( I)   teaching career.