Our grandparents seems to have magic powers sometimes. Give them a Chinese lunar calendar    1    they will know what the weather will be like days or even months later.

What's the secret? They are following the 24 Solar Terms (节气),     2    were added on Nov. 30 to the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (人类非物资文化遗产) by the United Nations (UN). It is a knowledge system and social practice    3    (form) through people's observations of the sun's annual movements and its influence on the climate.

The 24 Solar Terms    4    (come) into being during the Qin and Han    5     (dynasty). At that time, most Chinese people made their living on farms, so weather changes were    6    (extreme) important for them. But of course, they had no satellite, internet or weather broadcast    7    (help) them.    8    these difficulties, they managed to work out 24 Solar Terms by studying the sun's movement and also    9    (pay) attention to other natural changes such as air temperature, water and crop growth.

It is honored as China's    10    (five) great invention, after papermaking, printing, the compass and gunpowder. Now, it is still widely used in daily life even in the age of technology-based modern farming.

Mark Twain, a famous American writer and speaker, spent his boyhood along the Missisiippi River, and three of his most famous     1     (novel) describe people along this great river. The author loved the river so much     2     even his pen name came from the river. Being poor, Twain     3     (leave) school at the age of twelve and looked for work. Over the next two decades he worked as a printer, a riverboat pilot, a soldier and a newspaper reporter     4    (support) the family.     5    was said that his first successful story was about jumping frog contest. And his works became     6    (extreme) famous for the description of common people and the way they talked, especially for his humor. As     7     result, he became very rich with his works. However, the last years of his life     8    (fill) with sad events: the deaths of his wife and children, the loneliness and the     9     (lose) of much money. For these, his writings lost most of their humor and became sad like him. Yet he is still regarded     10     one of the best known in the world.

Have you ever had the feeling that cannot be understood by anyone? Well, here     1    (come) “Pepper”, which could be about to change all that. Pepper is the first robot     2     (read) human feelings.     3    (use) its emotion recognition functions (情感识别功能), Pepper can make jokes, dance and     4    (surprising) it can even sing to people when they are around it.

The robot looks like a lovely girl. It is four feet tall with a tablet computer in     5    (it) chest. It has human-like hands, a girl-like body and baby-like voice.

Pepper can tell facial expressions, human voices and signs, and then make an answer. Pepper     6     (design) to be a family robot, but it isn’t like the household robot in the cartoon. Pepper is used at home or stores,     7     we enjoy pleasure and entertainment. It can encourage us and make us laugh and feel     8     (relax).

Pepper began to be on sale     9     a price of $2,000 a few years ago. At present, several Peppers are on show at stores for people to watch. Before selling, the     10    (create) want them to store more information in order to get along better with human beings.