1 . As the saying goes, “Interest is the seed of everything”. Since childhood, Cantero had been living with football that had a _________ effect on her. She had always loved football as well as art, and fortunately she found a way to _________ the two things.

Lili Cantero prepared a new colorful show of her works to take to the World Cup in Qatar. The 29-year-old artist was famous for _________ soccer shoes for stars. Her new artworks included shoes and balls with pictures and designs. Many of them were _________ by the Middle Eastern nation, Qatar, and especially its capital Doha brought her lots of _________ ideas. The city welcomed national teams from the world to _________ in the World Cup.

Cantero _________ sent a pair of shoes to Argentine star Lionel Messi. The shoes had fancy details with black and white image of the _________ and his family. She didn’t know if Messi would even receive the shoes. But _________, she received a photo of Messi holding them. That marked a turning point in her__________. Then her colorful designs __________ other stars. She even met a famous former Brazilian star and gave him a pair of __________ and a football showing a kiss his mother had given him after winning an award in 2005.

In Qatar, Cantero planned to show eight footballs with designs that showed her __________ for eight countries winning the World Cup, thinking that they were __________ of the admiration of all. Finally, the footballs were the centerpiece of the World Cup exhibition, while the boots were presented within three-dimensional __________ looking like the stadiums that Qatar built for the World Cup.

2 . Armenian musician Astrid Poghosyan ________ great pride in the Chinese name she picked for herself, Ma Xingxing. The given name “Xingxing.” literally meaning ________ is inspired by her Armenian first name, while the surname “Ma” is taken from Ma Chao, a famous ________ from China’s Three Kingdoms Period（220-280 AD）.

Poghosyan always puts all her ________ into the projects in which she is involved, whether they are offline or online events,________she believes that every little effort will help her realize her ________ dreams. “I believe music knows no borders, and that cultural exchanges via music are especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.

Having studied and worked in China for 12 years, Poghosyan has now become a real China hand, versed in the country’s language and culture. Such a multicultural background has ________ helped her good at her current job because she knows how to use the ________ of a multicultural background in her work.

Her ________ for Chinese culture, including Jackie Chan movies and stories of Mulan, helped her ________ the difficult language-learning process. As she gradually ________ herself in the Chinese language and culture, she also started to make Chinese friends and ________ the vibrant city life of Shanghai.

“Since I first came to Shanghai, I have always been ________ by the kindness and friendliness of the people here. Even when I couldn’t speak Chinese, in the first days, everyone I met gave me a big ________, whether they were sanitation workers on the streets or cashiers in convenience stores. Their smiles have made me feel the ________ of the city.” she said.