Xueqiang, a local ethnic (民族的) dance in Derong County of Sichuan Province, has won national fame among cultural workers and researchers. It was listed     1     a national intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

Over time, Xueqiang became standard entertainment at gatherings and     2    (party). Especially at night during the harvest festival, people would dance the Xueqiang around a bonfire while drinking and singing. Some would risk     3     (jump) the bonfire, making the night even more     4     (excite). Xueqiang has no accompaniment or tools. Its main features are the stomping (跺脚) and stepping rhythms that are sometimes strong and powerful, sometimes soft and free.

Xueqiang singing is complicated in its tune structure, which is     5     (usual) divided into four parts — intro, bridge, verse, and outro. The intervals are full of ups and downs, while the melody (旋律) is bright and     6     (nature). At the end of the melody, dancers stomp their feet to fill the pause, creating a remarkable ending.

As for the origins of Xueqiang, it can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty    7     Princess Wencheng was sent to marry the King of Tubo,     8     ancient kingdom in Tibet. The local artists got together to compose songs and dances     9     (greet) the princess as she passed through. Eventually, Xueqiang     10     (create), combining the artistic spirits of different ethnic groups co-existing at the time.

Esmeralda and Quasimodo were still for several moments, as they considered their predicament     1    (silent), she very graceful, he very repulsive. How anyone could     2    (form) in such a way was beyond her comprehension.     3    , she gradually adapted to it.

Eventually he was the first     4    (break) the silence and he actually knew what she meant. She could hear so significant an     5    (aware) of sadness from the accents of the unfortunate man that she had not the strength to utter a word. Quasimodo thought that he was something terrible,    6     human nor beast, whilst she was a ray of sunshine, a drop of dew, a birdsong. He laughed, laughing at himself,     7     showed the most heartbreaking sound in the world.

But she wanted to obtain his     8    (explain) why he would rescue her. He said he was the unfortunate man who attempted     9    (kidnap) her, the same person to whom she showed kindness when he was in trouble. A drop of water and a little pity were more than he could repay with his life.

She listened to him with profound tenderness. A tear     10    (swim) in his eye, but didn’t fall down. He seemed to make it a point of honour to keep it at bay.

Stephen is a famous basketball player. It was self-belief, hard work and perseverance     1    made him a success. Stephen’s grandfather built a simple basket by    2    (attach) a piece of plastic to a telephone pole along a narrow muddy road different from the bright lights and shiny courts of the National Basketball Association(NBA). The bumps and rocks caused the ball to bounce in all     3    (direct).     4    (know) where the ball would go wasn’t very easy. However, Stephen improved his skills by practicing day in and day out. Many people thought Stephen was too short, too thin and too weak to start his career. But he regarded playing basketball as his dream. He would not give up. He finally ended up    5    (play)college ball at Davidson College,     6     his creativity and perseverance made him a star player. In 2009,     7     (select)for the NBA, Stephen joined the Golden State Warriors. In 2015, Stephen won his first NBA championship and he led the Warriors to their first championship since 1975. In addition, he received the Most Valuable Player award for two years     8     a row. Stephen shared his philosophy: be yourself, value the fact that you can work every single day to get    9     (good), and be able to put in the time and the work. His success     10     (show)that nothing is impossible.

8 . When I was seven, my parents explained to me that my sister would be different.     1     But now I realize I see the world in a much different way, all thanks to her.

Throughout our lives, my sister has often got stared at because she has Down syndrome (唐氏综合征), which makes her appear abnormal. There were times when I had to struggle with her.     2     I simply thought. “Everyone else is just staring and that is wrong. They should offer us help instead of staring at us like it’s a circus act (马戏表演).”

I had this in mind when I was traveling alone recently and saw a mother and a son with special needs at the airport gate.     3     They were heading towards the gate of their second departure of the day. The mother was obviously stressed out and trying to keep her son calm while some items were falling out of her un-zipped (拉开拉链的) backpack. The son was pulling strangers’clothes, and she appeared to be embarrassed about it. Then the boy began to scream, looking very scared and confused.

Some people gave the son and mother strange looks, the same kind of looks my sister and I would sometimes get.     4     I tried to help calm the boy down by assuring him he was going to see his grandmother as his mom kept telling him. When the boy finally calmed down, I returned to my seat. At the time, an older gentleman turned around and said to me. “I thought about doing what you did, but I just thought about it. You did it.”

To be honest. I didn’t even really regard what I did as something different or good.     5