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.”

In Ningbo city, a young woman has made the bamboo product brand of her family’s company famous around the world,    1    (help)a fair number of bamboo farmers increase their income.

Wang Xiaoqing, born in the 1990s,    2    (find) that in the US, Chinese bamboo products were popular among customers,    3    many of them carried foreign brands, despite China being the “kingdom of bamboos”. She decided to return to China and build a bamboo product brand after finishing her education abroad in 2013.

In 2018,a bamboo table    4    (produce) by the company of Wang’s family shined at the first Global Bamboo Congress.“    5    fascinates westerners is the Chinese bamboo culture and its long history. It provides a sound foundation for the global    6    (expand) of China’s bamboo industry”, Wang said. Her company is    7    (current) engaged in the design, manufacturing and sales of bamboo products. It produces over 10 million bamboo products each year, 85 percent of which     8     (sell) in the global market.

Serving    9    vice president of the entrepreneurship promotion association for returned overseas students in Ningbo city, Wang plans to contribute more to rural vitalization. “I hope that we can turn villages into more beautiful places and make villagers get     10     (rich),”Wang said.

Chinese singer-songwriter Liu Shuang was on a journey to Beijing when he received a message,     1     (say) that his song Mohe Ballroom had gone viral (走红). However, he didn’t take it     2     (serious) until he learned that footage of the song had been viewed more than 10 million times.

The song     3     (inspire) by Liu’s trip in 2019 to Mohe. Heilongjiang province, where he met     4     elderly man dancing alone in a ballroom. “I was curious and danced with him. We talked for a while during a break, when I learned about his story.” said Liu, who later wrote an article     5     (title) Goodbye Evening Star, and posted it online.

The elderly man lost his wife and he has not remarried, so he often visited the old ballroom and danced alone     6     (remember) the times he and his wife spent there.

Millions of people have been touched by the song and the story behind it.     7     (video) featuring elderly men dancing alone have appeared on social media platforms. The song’s huge     8     (popular) has also made Mohe an in-demand tourism destination. Visitors flood to the city to see the ballroom, in the hope     9     meeting the elderly man. Moreover, local residents have become curious about the ballroom,     10     they had never noticed before.

2024 is the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese calendar and it is the first time that the Oxford English Dictionary (OED)    1     (include) the term “Chinese dragon” in its dictionary. The Chinese dragon has two definitions in the OED, with the first one about its physical image and the second one on its figurative and allusive (典故的) nature.

Emperors in ancient dynasties were dressed in a Dragon Robe, a traditional silk-woven costume with dragon designs,     2     (symbolize) imperial power and authority. Jade Seals (玉玺), often     3     (carve) with dragons, also symbolize the authority of the emperor.

Contrary     4     the Western dragon, the image of the Chinese dragon, despite undergoing constant changes, has represented various’ positive     5     (quality) including prosperity, authority, strength and good fortune.

In ancient Chinese belief, dragons     6     (associate) with the control of the weather, particularly rain. The dragon’s ability to bring rain was seen as crucial for agriculture, which made it     7     positive symbol for the fertility of the land.

With the rising China Chic trend and the country’s booming cultural creative industry, the Chinese dragon in folktale is now     8     (common) seen in creative products such as tear-off calendars, dolls, dragon-themed jewelry as well as the “dragon blind boxes”     9     appeal to young consumers.

Whether it is through the hands of a national-level intangible (非物质) cultural heritage inheritor     10     the hands of a Generation Z “blind box” designer, the Chinese dragon carries forward the Chinese cultural spirit.

“No conversation” or “less conversation“ seemed incompatible with businesses like hair salons and barber shops, where conversation     1     (basic) is part of the service.

However, one Tokyo salon decided to implement the ”silent cut“ service     2     it proved so popular that others quickly followed suit.

“It’s great… ! I’ve been waiting for this service for 20 years. Because chatting is so depressing, I only get     3     haircut every 3 years, ” one person wrote about the silent cut service.

“I     4     (save) because the conversation with the hairdresser is troublesome,” someone else commented. A recent survey revealed that over 70 percent of respondents preferred the silent experience, with the most common explanations     5     (be) that they found it more relaxing, as they were able to rest instead of spending what little energy they had left on hearing     6     (want) information and making small talk.

As     7     turns out, hair stylists prefer the silent cut as well. “I started chatting because I was taught in my early days     8     (talk) to customers and get information about their preferences, but focusing on topics that I didn’t like     9     (make) me feel very uncomfortable, so I decided to put their     10     (private) first, ”one hairstylist said.

A Chinese scientist, who     1     (call) Dong Jianyi, has helped Canadian greenhouse technology move forward, curiously by moving backward.

He uses only materials and the laws of thermodynamics (热力学)     2     (plant)vegetables even in winter, without     3     (waste) a singe watt. His Fresh Pal Farms is believed to be the largest “passive greenhouse” in Canada.

Growing vegetables in China’s cold north needs special     4     (method), and passive greenhouses that don’t use electricity     5     (common) seen in that part of the county.

His 300-foot long, 30-foot wide greenhouse is constructed out of a steel frame with two plastic roofs.     6     electric motor allows operators to deal with a special blanket to trap heat     7     (absorb)during the day.     8     this way, the 10,000-square-foot inner space can be kept at 28℃ compared to outside December temperatures of around -7℃.

On the north side lies a 24-inch thick clay wall,     9     catches light more easily from a south-lying sun. At night the clay radiates heal into space, further ensuring the plants can survive winter temperatures that can fall to -35℃.

Last year Dong     10    (grow)29,000 pounds of tomatoes alone while saving $30,000 in energy and heating costs.

Xu Mengtao, the flag-bearer for the Chinese delegation at the closing ceremony of 2022 Winter Olympics, has got multiple world championships. But her road     1     glory was not smooth, since it was accompanied by many injuries. It was her passion for sports, her persistence and determination that helped her continue and she finally     2     (win) the gold medal at her fourth Olympics. Her success goes beyond sports as it motivates both athletes and ordinary people in     3     (they) pursuit of dreams.