Palace Museum at 600: Old Palace, New Vitality

An exhibition titled “Everlasting Splendor: Six Centuries at the Forbidden City“ was held at the Palace Museum in Beijing to celebrate its 600th birthday. With more than 450 cultural relics and historical photos     1     show, the exhibition brings history to life     2     allows visitors to better appreciate the cultural charm of the palace.

The Forbidden City was completed in 1420 and     3     total of 24 emperors lived and worked there. In many people’s eyes, its beauty lies in the palace complex, being an    4     (extreme) precious and splendid artwork. With more than 70 palaces of various sizes and over 9,000 rooms, it is one of the     5    (large) and most complete existing wooden structures in the world. It is also mysterious, because ancient Chinese philosophies were integrated into its design and     6     (construct). However, the sense of mystery     7     (fade) gradually since it was transformed into the Palace Museum in 1925.

The Palace Museum is now a world-famous museum     8     more than 1.8 million artifacts are collected. Recently, it has become a real “online celebrity” on the Internet. Creative products     9    (inspire) by aspects of the museum, such as make-ups and folding fans, have gone on sale viae-commerce platforms.

    10     (witness) China’s history, it has to some extent shaped the mental world of the Chinese people. But nowadays it has become a brand-new cultural symbol.

2 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Taylor Swift is ending her year with another honor. The pop superstar     1     (name) Time magazine’s 2023 “Person of the Year,”     2     (beat) out Barbie and King Charles III. “While her popularity     3     (grow) across the decades, this is the first year     4     Swift, 33, achieved a kind of nuclear fusion (核聚变): shooting art and commerce together     5     (release) an energy of historic force,” the magazine said. Time said Swift was selected     6     she found a way to give people around the world hope in some seriously dark times. “No one else     7     the planet today can move so many people so well,” Time said in its profile, “    8     giving too much credit to     9     star ignores her skill and her power.” The magazine also interviewed Swift, with the artist revealing that “this is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most     10     (creative) fulfilled and free I’ve ever been.”

3 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Tai Chi is par of China’s traditional culture. It is a unique type of Chinese kung fu marked with slow and gentle movements    1     are designed for self-protection, strengthening of body and prevention of diseases. Tai Chi’s movements with deep breathing and relaxation can help promote inner peace and calm, so it is suitable    2     people of different ages.

Tai Chi    3    (date) back as far as 2, 500 years. It is said that Zhang Sanfeng, a 13th-century Taoist, invented Tai Chi after watching     4     fight between a snake and a bird. However, more people tend to believe that Tai Chi     5     (develop) on the basis of martial arts skills by Chen Wangting, a l7th-century master of Chinese martial arts.   

In general, it is believed that Tai Chi can slow down aging, strengthen muscles, and aid in the treatment of heart disease, skin diseases and many other    6     (illness). Besides, Tai Chi can improve mood if people are worried or depressed. According to some studies,     7    (practice) Tai Chi on a daily basis can also help people get a     8     (good) sleep. With so many benefits of Tai Chi, more and more people begin to pick up this     9     (amaze) Chinese traditional sport to improve the quality of     10     (they) life.

Every weekend, Yang Jie spends at least a morning at a book house by the 6,300 km-long Yangtze River, reading while enjoying a cup of coffee. The book house that Yang Jie often visits     1     (call) Pipa Pavilion, inspired by a famous poem Pipa Xing. Shaped like     2     pipa from a bird’s eye view, Pipa Pavilion     3     (stand) as a cultural landmark in the Jiujiang section of the Yangtze River National Cultural Park.

Pipa Pavilion offers more than 5,000 books free     4     reading, as well as a coffee shop and a tearoom. These     5     (facility) are part of the Yangtze River National Cultural Park, which aims to pass on the cultural history of Yangtze River, the     6     (long) and most iconic river in China.

Similarly, China is building cultural parks centered around the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, the Long March and the Yellow River, all of     7     are defining symbols of Chinese culture. By     8     (set) up these parks, China proudly displays     9     (it) diverse culture. More importantly, it shows how cultural and     10     (environment) protection coexist in harmony, offering a sustainable legacy (遗产) for generations to come.

A paper-cutting exhibition centered ok China’s dragon culture began at the Beijing Fengshang Art Museum on Monday. It     1    (co-host) by the Institute of Natural and Cultural Heritage Research at Nanjing University, the China National Culture Foundation, the bureau of culture and tourism in Beijing’s Dongcheng District and the Beijing Dongcheng District Culture Center to celebrate the approaching Year of the Dragon,    2     (present) exquisite(精美的) works from 100 folk artists nationwide.

Chen Jing, deputy director of the Institute of Natural and Cultural Heritage Research at Nanjing University, stated, “The dragon,    3     represents wisdom, courage, strength, prosperity, and auspicious ness(吉祥), serves as the     4    (symbol) representation of the Chinese nation.”

After nearly a year of    5    (prepare) the organizers have collaborated with paper-cutting inheritors of intangible cultural heritage and folk artists from across the nation to produce hundreds of artworks    6    (center) around the theme of dragon culture.

A thoughtfully selected collection of 200 exquisite pieces,    7     (main) depicting dragons in different forms and styles, is now    8    display at the opening exhibition in Beijing. Subsequently, the exhibition will embark on a tour,    9     (visit) locations such as Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and Linfen, Shanxi province.

This offers a unique opportunity for a broader audience    10    (appreciate) the diverse and fascinating representations of dragons in this artistic collection.

Diesel engines (柴油机) work on the same basic principles     1     gasoline engines, but they do the work differently. Let’s take a closer look.

The story of the diesel engine actually begins with the invention of the gasoline engine. Nikolaus August Otto     2     (invent) the gasoline engine in 1861. His invention used the four-stroke combustion (四冲程燃烧) principle, also known as the “Otto Cycle”,     3     is the basis for most car engines today. In its early stage, the gasoline engine wasn’t very efficient, and other major methods of transportation, such as the steam engine, performed     4     (poor) as well. Only about 10 percent of the fuel     5    (use) to power these types of engines actually moved a vehicle. The rest of the fuel simply produced useless heat.

Rudolf Diesel created an engine with high efficiency, and he devoted much of his time to     6     (develop) a “combustion power engine”. By 1892 Diesel had obtained a patent for     7     we now call the diesel engine.

For decades, diesel engines had a reputation for being dirty and loud. While Europe adopted the technology pretty widely, most     8    (drive) in the United States said, “No, thank you.” By the 21st century, though diesel engines became far cleaner, much     9     (quiet) and even more efficient, they experienced a setback in popular opinion because of a scandal (丑闻) in 2014. Thanks to     10     (they) proven efficiency, though, diesel engines are regaining some ground.