Delicate, lustrous (光亮的), and soft to touch. The ethereal fabric we now call silk has threaded its way throughout China’s history.

One cannot be certain of its origin, but the ancient Chinese people credited their own wisdom to Leizu, wife of the Yellow Emperor (the legendary ancestor of all Chinese people), as     1     inventor of sericulture (养蚕).

Like almost all genres of art on the vast land of China, the style and texture of silk     2    (be) also multifarious. Hangluo satin from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, is well known     3     its airy and sheer texture, while Yunjin brocade (凸花纹织物) from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, a luxurious fabric often     4    (use) for royal garments, represents China’s silk weaving technique at its prime.

Yunjin brocade     5    (make) by hand on giant looms (织布机), in a complex procedure     6     comprises more than a hundred steps. Even the most skilled artisans can only weave a few centimeters a day. Time, patience and deftness all play necessary roles to its heavenly beauty or as its name suggests, its cloud-like splendor.

In the Western Han Dynasty, with diplomat and explorer Zhang Qian     7    (open) up the routes to the western regions, silk graced many     8    (country) in Central Asia, later extending its reach to other parts of Eurasia and beyond. Fittingly, its name marked China’s major international trade routes, the ancient Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road.

In the hands of Chinese artists, the     9    (thin) threads can weave pictures of immense possibilities, and the softest material can go through thousands of years. As one of the many marvels of ancient China, silk is not     10     (mere) a type of textile. It is a cultural icon, and a symbol of elegance and grace.

A three-bedroom 3D-printed farmhouse has been built in Wujiazhuang Village, Zhangjiakou, which is the co-host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics. With ceilings and walls    1    (decorate) by weave patterns, Zhao Xiujuan’s house covers an area of 106 square meters.

When Xu Weiguo, a professor at Tsinghua University,    2    (come) up with the idea of building a 3D-printed farmhouse, there was an outpouring of concern from villagers,    3    wondered whether it would be strong enough. However, Zhao ignored what her fellow villagers doubted and made the work go on. The    4    (construct) was completed in two weeks, with only two people on each device.

China’s 3D printing technology    5    (use) in many fields since then. “This technology cannot only save manpower and construction costs,    6    increase efficiency and quality,” Xu said,    7    (add) that it can keep the design and construction of traditional houses while creating beautiful patterns. “There are still    8    large number of houses and infrastructure (基础设施) to be built    9    (wide) in China in the future,” Xu said. “Intelligent technologies can solve the labor shortage problem faced by the construction industry, freeing workers     10    their heavy labor.”

LIVING LEGENDS

Help us choose some “Living Legends of Sports”. They must be athletes     1     are masters in their sports and also set good examples for others. Here     2     (be) our first two choices.

As a player, Lang Ping     3     (bring) honour and glory to her country. As a coach, she     4    (lead)the China women’s volleyball team to medals at world championships and the Olympics. As a person，Lang Ping     5     (love) by fans at home and abroad. When the Chinese team was preparing for the 2015 World Cup, her     6     (determine) was tested. The team that Lang Ping had built was falling apart. One of the best players had been injured, and the team captain had to leave because     7     heart problems.     8     (lose) two important players was a big challenge,     9     Lang Ping did not lose heart. She had faced difficulties before，and she knew that her young players could win if they worked together as a team. Two weeks later, they were world     10     (champion)! Then in 2016，Lang Ping led her volleyball team to Olympic gold in Brazil.

While many parents worry that their children spend too much time playing computer games, Kelcey is pleased     1     (see) her son Owain pick up his tablet.

Now aged 13, Owain     2     (diagnose) with ADHD (注意力缺陷多动障碍) in pre-school. Since then, the family, who live in the US city of Savannah, Georgia,     3    (take) Owain to see doctors to help him better cope with everyday life tasks. They also tried the medication route, which had to stop after the prescribed(处方的)drugs made him sick.

Help came in the end from     4     initially seemed very strange —a computer game     5     (call) Endeavor Rx. In 2020 it became the first such game to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the treatment of ADHD in children.     6     (current) only available on prescription from doctors in the US, Endeavor Rx at first glance looks very similar     7     countless other games,     8     the app-based game is designed to stimulate and improve areas of the brain that play a key role in attention function.

After each of Owain’ sessions, Kelcey noted his daily       9     (behave) in the app, and tracked his progress. Soon she started to see small positive changes. And after failing the     10     (five) grade. Owain subsequently shot up to getting As and Bs for his work.

China’s Explosive Artist

Cai Guoqiang’s practice spans from, gunpowder drawings to ephemeral sculptures and monumental installations, all of     1     are rich with references to Chinese history, Taoist cosmology and current political events. Cai deals with the latter in a spectacular installation for I Want to Believe, his 2008 retrospective in New York, from the centre of the Guggenheim rotunda the artist—a     2     (train) set designer, by the way—suspended Inopportune: Stage One (2004), consisting of a series of nine cars     3     (hover) in mid air to represent in cinematic progression the effect of a car bomb.

Since the 1980s, Cai has been working on drawings realized by     4     (ignite) explosive powder on large sheets of paper. These works possess an aura     5     evokes both the vivid gestures of abstract expressionism and the quieter surfaces of Chinese traditional painting. Gunpowder is also at the centre of a series of environmental works, begun in 1989,     6     combine the tradition of Land Art with     7     of Chinese fireworks. For his explosion events, Cai stages pyrotechnical choreographies that sketch temporary drawing space.

Cai’s     8     (participate) in many international events, imposes himself as one of the strongest in the sky. These events are also meant to act as social, festive collective experiences that the artist—not without irony—believes could be perceived even from outer artists to emerge from China. At the Venice Biennale 1999 he     9     (award) the Golden Lion far Venice’s Rent Collection Courtyard (1999), a series of unfired clay sculptures     10     organized the opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

In China, the     1     (tradition) Solar term culture is still useful today to guide people’s lives. The solar terms     2     (create) thousands of years ago to guide agricultural production. Solar term culture is still useful today to guide people’s lives.

Start of Autumn     3     (reflect) the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. Although autumn just begins, hot weather will not come to     4     end. The period of hot days after Start of Autumn, usually     5     (last) for 30 days, is called “Autumn Tiger”. Because of decreasing precipitation (降水), it is even     6     (hot) during this period than during Major Heat.

On the first day of the Start of Autumn, usually people will weigh     7     (them) and compare their weight to     8     it was at the Start of Summer. If one has lost weight during the summer, then at the beginning of autumn, he     9     she needs to eat many different kinds of delicious food, especially meat.

In Shandong province, people make dumplings during the Start of Autumn, and they call it “Eating the Autumn”. On the day of Start of Autumn, senior     10     (member) of the family will stand in the middle of the hall, praying for the harvest in autumn.

Song Qingling     1     (bear) on 27th January 1893 in Shanghai, one of the greatest    2    (leader) of China, was a well­ known stateswoman.When she was young, she was much    3    (concern) about the future of China.     4     (late) she took part in many activities to fight for the freedom of Chinese people.     5     the foundation of the PRC, she was    6    (complete) devoted to the    7    (develop) of new China and played an important part in many activities.

On 8th May 1981, she died in Beijing at the age of 88,     8     brought great sorrow to the Chinese people.       9     (honor) as one of the greatest women of the 20th century, she    10    (remember) by the Chinese people forever.