China will become the guest country of honor for the 37th International Kite Festival in Berck-sur-Mer from April 20 to 28. It’s the first time that the festival     1     (introduce) the concept of guest countries since     2     (it) establishment in 1987.

During the nine -day event, the China Cultural Center in Paris will join hands with Weifang city in Shandong province — known     3     the “kite capital of the world”, to showcase the most authentic Chinese kite art and cultural experience to the audience. Various cultural activities will take center stage,     4     (include) kite competitions, cultural performances and workshops on intangible cultural heritage.

The International Kite Festival in Berck-sur-Mer is the largest and most     5     (influence) kite-themed event in France. Visitors can not only observe a wide variety of kites, traditional and modern, small and giant,     6     also engage in kite-making workshops, art performances and experiential activities.

    7     (additional), this year’s festival will debut (首次亮相) the international kite stunt (特技) competition, called “The World Kite Cup Berck-sur-Mer”. Kite-flying masters from ten     8     (country) and regions will compete for the world champion title in a showdown of skills and creativity.

To kick off     9     festival on April 20, a 100 -meter -long dragon kite will take flight,     10     (follow) by a series of activities, such as dragon and lion dance performances, martial arts demonstrations, a tea ceremony, and calligraphy exhibitions.

On Sept. 7, famous Chinese archaeologist Fan Jinshi, 85,     1     (award) by UNESCO for her contribution to the protection of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang.

    2     (call) the “daughter of Dunhuang”, she started her story with the cave 60 years ago. In 1963, Fan, then a 25-year-old Peking University graduate, had the chance     3     (work) at the Mogao Caves, a place     4     had long been on her list of sites to explore. Back in those days, the Mogao Caves were almost     5     (complete) cut off from the world. Fan and her coworkers stayed inside the caves to do research, copy murals (壁画), and do     6     they could to protect and restore them. As time passed, Fan found a serious problem.     7     number of tourists visiting Dunhuang was increasing, which might harm the caves,     8     (cause) the murals inside to fade. In the late 1980s, Fan learnt about computer technology     9     chance. She realized that this might preserve the Mogao Caves forever.

After over 30 years of     10     (explore), the Dunhuang Academy built a digital database to protect cultural relics there, allowing Dunhuang’s art to live forever and to step out of the caves to meet the world.

To write his own medical text, Li Shizhen referenced over 800 medical texts, countless books on history and geography, and works of literature. He even studied the complete works of many ancient poets, from     1     he selected a surprising number of verses about medicine. However, the greatest issue he encountered was the widespread inconsistency (不一致) in the use of drug names. Realizing the importance of field research outweighed     2     of extensive reading, Li travelled far and wide into the mountains and wilderness in 1565. He covered what are today's provinces of Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu, and many other places.

After over a decade of field research, Li     3     (successful) completed the first draft of his masterpiece, Bencao Gangmu, or the Compendium of Materia Medica in 1578. He revised     4     work at least three times right up until his death in 1593.

Since its first publication in 1596, the book     5     (receive) world-wide recognition. British naturalist Charles Darwin acknowledged the book     6     an “ancient Chinese encyclopedia (百科全书).” In 2011, the book     7     (list) on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. In 2017, an international conference was held in Beijing     8     (celebrate) Li’s 500th birthday.

Today, there are a     9     (grow) number of international exchanges centering on Li Shizhen and his book, and many people around the world can still find the     10     (wise) of human development in this ancient classic.

The year 2023 witnessed the significant protection plan released for Beijing’s Central Axis ( 轴 线),     1    (stretch) for 7.8 kilometers through the Chinese capital. World-famous landmarks like the Forbidden City, Tian’anmen Square, the Temple of Heaven are located along the central axis,     2    construction began in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and    3    (last) until the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The protection plan for Beijing’s Central Axis from 2022 to 2035 was released in January of 2023, marking     4    new stage in its conservation, sustainable development and application as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The plan is said to be one of the necessary steps for UNESCO World Heritage status, and     5     (it) release and implementation (实施) will play an important role in the protection and     6    (manage) of the capital’s central axis.

Alongside regulations on the protection of the Central Axis     7    (carry) out earlier, the plan is in line with the requirements of World Heritage conservation and provides an effective strategy     8    the conservation.

The 21 member countries of the World Heritage Committee will decide on whether Beijing’s Central Axis can     9    (add) to the World Heritage List at the committee’s 46th annual conference in 2024.     10    the application succeeds, it will reinforce Beijing’s top position among cities worldwide by number of World Heritage Sites.

Sleep experts recommend teenagers get 8 to 10 hours of sleep every night. Many college students experience     1     (regular) and insufficient sleep.

David Creswell, professor of MIT, led a team of researchers to evaluate     2     relationship between sleep and grade point average (GPA).

"Animal studies so far     3     (show) how critical sleep is for learning and memory," said Creswell, "Here we show how this work translates to humans. The     4     (little) nightly sleep a first year college student gets at the beginning of the school term predicts lower GPA at the end of the term. Lack of sleep may be hurting students'     5     (able) to learn in their college classrooms."

The study evaluated more than 600 first-year students across five studies at three universities. The students wore wrist Fitbit devices     6     (monitor) and record their sleep patterns. The researchers found that students in the study sleep on average 6. 5 hours a night.

More     7     (surprise), the researchers found that students who receive less than six hours of sleep experienced a pronounced decline in academic performance.

"Once you start dipping below six hours, you are starting to accumulate massive sleep debt     8     can harm a student's health and study habits,    9     (damage) the whole system," said Creswell. "Most surprising to me was that no matter     10     we did to make the effect go away, it continued."