Trends popular among the youth such as “China chic” and the growing influence of young consumers have driven the development of hanfu industry in recent years. Among the various     1     (style), the horse face skirt has emerged as the most popular item.

    2    (combine) classical elegance with modern simplicity, the horse face skirt is said to perfectly suit the contemporary culture and lifestyle of young people, making     3     a fashion icon (标志). This trend has gained popularity in Luoyang city, Central China’s Henan province,    4     numerous performers recently showcased these beautiful skirts in their acts, with many visitors alike     5     (dress) in the elegant horse face skirts. In Caoxian county of Shandong province, one of the country’s hanfu production and sales centers, the sales     6     the horse face skirts during last Spring Festival holiday     7     (increase) dozens of times compared to usual volumes. Actually, the skirt has become a very popular     8     (choose) for gifts.

The current popularity of hanfu in the country is believed     9     (indicate) more than a fashion trend; it     10     (represent) a deeper connection to Chinese tradition and cultural identity.

Northwest China’s Tianshui spicy hot pot goes viral on social media

Tianshui malatang, a version of a spicy hot pot in northwest China’s Gansu Province, has recently gone viral on Chinese media,     1    (attract) many tourists from all over the country to taste the dish.

Malatang,     2    means ”numbingly (使麻木地) spicy soup,“ is a one-pot noodle soup with hot pot flavor. It is a tongue-numbing spicy dish loved for its    3    (satisfy) flavor and the richness of colors. Different from Sichuan cuisine, another place in Southwest China famous for     4     (it) hot pot, the secrets for tickling the taste buds come from local specialty ingredients in Tianshui－Maiji peppercorns (胡椒) and Gangu chili peppers.

According to the China News Agency, а restaurant owner in Tianshui said he has been serving more than 400 customers a day, as people from other cities and    5     (province ) drive to the city to try the malatang.

”There     6    (be) a long queue outside my restaurant recently," one shop owner said. One customer posted on Chinese social media giant Sina Weibo that she had queued for six hours     7    (get) the dish.

Many malatang shops in Tianshui have even extended their business hours to satisfy the increasing number of customers from all over the country.

Nowadays, a Tianshui spicy hot pot restaurant is    8    must-go visit in the city.     9     the same time, the local authority     10    (provide) special bus lines for tourists to help them to experience the charm of local culture.

Whenever you have to write a paper, a letter, or any other document for work or school, you probably head toward the computer. Now, most people reach for     1     (keyboard) faster than they pick up pens. In a Scottish primary school, however, Mr. Norman Lewis is taking a different approach. He feels that neat handwriting     2     (be) still an important skill, so he has his students write not only by hand but also     3     old fashioned fountain pens.

Fountain pens     4     (use) in schools long ago and have been regaining popularity lately because they are refillable. Today, a writer     5     (simple) throws an empty pen away and gets     6     new one.

So far, Mr. Lewis is pleased with the results of his experiment. He reports that his students are taking more care with their work, and their self-confidence has improved as well. He is happy with the     7     (improve) he sees in his students’ writing     8     in his own writing. He knows that computers are here     9     (stay) and that they will not disappear. However, he believes that the practice with fountain pens helps students to focus, to write faster, and they can feel proud of     10     (they).

Hanfu, or Han-style clothing, one of the     1     (old) types of clothing in the world, is becoming popular again. Walking in downtown areas or scenic spots in the Chinese mainland, one can’t miss the sight of girls and boys elegantly     2     (dress) in Han-style clothing posing for photographs with either     3     oil paper umbrella or a circular silk fan in hand.

Actually, the clothing style of Chinese Hanfu kept changing over the centuries due to the     4     (change) in people’s taste, requirements and the availability of new clothing materials. However, the development of Han-style clothing came to a sudden stop, when the Manchus, after establishing the Qing Dynasty,     5     (essential) banned people from wearing Hanfu.

For a long time, Hanfu was worn only by some brides and grooms during weddings and a few other special occasions. Attracted by the elegance and beauty of Hanfu, a few brave youngsters began to wear Han-style clothes a decade ago     6     (take) photos in ancient towns. They immediately drew the attention of the public and the media,     7     in turn prompted (促使) others to try on Hanfu.

Thanks to the country’s emphasis     8     cultural confidence, Han-style clothing has been developing into a trend. Some cities     9     (hold) Hanfu festivals or Hanfu fashion shows so far. The     10     (grow) popularity of Hanfu has also fueled public interest in other traditional cultural elements, Chinese painting, calligraphy, kung fu and so on.

I knew that my first day of senior high school would be challenging. I was nervous that my classmates changed during the summer, making them much     1    (intelligent) and look different and making me think if I was     2       only one who hadn’t changed. Anyway, I would go all out to make a good first       3    (impress). On Monday, I walked into the school in my eagerness     4    (explore) it. I saw a lot of people going to the gym one by one, so I went as well. Then I     5    (tell) by a helpful girl volunteer that my first period was math. I was     6    (frighten) that I got this class for the first period because I was weak in math. With butterflies     7     my stomach, I walked into the classroom.     8    (see) me, the math teacher in neat clothes     9    (smiling) said, “Welcome to my class. Just sit wherever you’d like.” My math teacher was very nice to me, and I liked her from the start. I became confident about myself,     10     made me believe that I would learn math well with her teaching me.

The minority of Red Yao is one of the ethnic minorities in China, living in north of Guilin. Guangxi Region, especially on Longji Rice Terraces(梯田). One of the     1    (big)Yao festivals is the Clothes Drying Festival, which falls     2     the sixth day of the sixth lunar month. In practice, women lay out all their traditional costumes under the sun. This serves the double purposes of disinfection and allowing the ladies to show off     3     they have. If it rains, they will spread their costumes indoors,     4    (leave)the door open.

That day, local Yao people took their clothes outside their house to dry and seek fortune. Later,     5    (dress)in their treasured costumes, they showcased how to make traditional clothes, performed group weddings and gave other unique performances as a way     6    (attract)tourists.

Yao people in the area     7    (observe)the festival for centuries. Tradition has it that the celebration ceremony is held between the famous terraced rice     8    (field)in this area.

The celebration continues into night     9     reaches its height when the people light up their doorways under the starry sky. In addition, fireworks are set off.

The celebration varies     10    (slight)from place to place. In Guiping County nearby, Yao people stand in squares waving their hands to the sun and express their admiration at dusk.

We have something in the UK     1     (call) Boxing Day, which     2     (be) an odd name, so let us explain what Boxing Day actually is! It is celebrated on 26th December,     3     day after Christmas Day, and it’s a continuation of the Christmas festivities.

The history of the day is deeply rooted in our social class structure. In the past, servants or tradesmen that     4     (work) for wealthy families would receive a Christmas box     5     their employers which contained gifts. The box was a way of     6     (say) thanks for working throughout the year. Often the holiday was seen as Christmas Day for the working men     7     would be serving the rich on the 25th and could not celebrate Christmas with family     8     (member) until the following day. But nowadays the     9     (traditional) of the gift box no longer exists. Now it’s celebrated as a shopping holiday or one     10     (usual) spends in front of the television eating loads of leftover food. Boxing Day is a bank holiday throughout the UK, which also marks the day when the sales start.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) originated in ancient China. It     1    (include) acupuncture (针灸), Chinese herbal medicine, tai chi, qigong, tuina, guasha, cupping and so on.

Acupuncture was one of the first TCM       2    (method) that were accepted by the healthcare system in the USA. It was first introduced to the USA in 1971 by a New York Times reporter, James Reston, in an article     3    (title) “Now, about my operation in Peking”.

In 1997. acupuncture was     4    (official) accepted by the National Institutes of Health of the US, and in a statement in 2002, the World Health Organization recognized acupuncture as an     5    (effect) treatment for more than 43 common ailments (小病). TCM focuses     6     not only the disease treatment, but also the disease prevention and     7    (improve) of overall health.

Today, TCM is primarily used as an alternative for people     8    (maintain) a healthy state in the US. It is widely practiced in more than 180 countries and regions around the globe; among them, 103 countries have approved     9     use of acupuncture, 29 have established some forms of laws and regulations for TCM, 18 have included acupuncture into their national health insurance systems,     10     more than 30 have colleges and universities that teach students in TCM.

Liu Ruying,     1     grandfather is a huge fan of Peking Opera, has been interested in Peking Opera for much of her young life. Her grandfather is a great influence     2     her. At the age of 8, she     3    (begin) to practice the classic art. It wasn’t easy for a little girl     4    (experience) the difficult training, as performances combine martial arts, dancing and acrobatics(杂技).

“Sometimes I was tired,“ she said. ”I had to balance my studies and other     5    (course) I was interested in, such as dance. But the great charm(魅力) of Peking Opera made me always practice it.”

When Liu got the news that her region would have a cultural exchange with other countries, she had the idea of     6    (introduce) Peking Opera to the world in English. With     7     help of her mother, she took part in the activity after several months of practice.

“I     8    (extreme) love traditional Chinese culture,” she said. “Peking Opera has a long history of about 200 years and     9    (consider) a treasure of our nation. We should let     10    (we) make great efforts to carry forward our culture and protect the cultural diversity of the world.”

Before becoming a web novel writer in 2018 Disha Florence from Dhaka, Bangladesh, now 25, was trying to find a way to free    1    (she) from the long-existed restrictions    2    (face) by a woman, a wish she has had since she was 8.

It was then that she observed that being a girl meant she could not go to play in the park like boys. She needed to learn household chores but boys could play all day. “I lost many    3    (opportunity) because, I had to listen to my parents and I regretted it. That’s when I thought that if I had    4    (free), I wouldn’t have to listen to others,” says Florence. As she grew up. she realized that    5    any experience and knowledge, it is impossible to be free. Therefore, while    6    (contiune) her study, Florence went to work as    7    volunteer in an NG,O.

At 22, she    8    (read) online fiction in English on Webnovel translated from Chinese when she noticed that the website was hiring authors    9    were said to have the chance    10     (make) a great deal of money. “Without thinking further, I started writing, and became a professional web novelist,” she says.