The Great Wall is the longest building in the world. It begins from Shanhaiguan and ends at Jiayuguan,     1     (cover) more than 6,000 km. It was built to prevent the enemy from getting into the Central Plains. The completion of the Wall     2     (take) a long time. Its first section was built in     3     7th century BC. After over 2,000 years rebuilding and connecting different sections thus came the present Great Wall.

The best     4     (preserve) section is at Badaling, which is also the best place to appreciate the greatness of the Great Wall.    5     (it) three parts, namely the pass, the wall and the watchtower, were once greatly significant. The Chinese saying: “If one man guards the pass, 10,000 are     6     (able) to get through.” shows the importance of the pass. The wall is the main part. During the ancient war time, those soldiers    7     (brave) defended the border on the wall. There is a watchtower every several kilometers used to pass military information.

    8     a historic site, the Great Wall symbolizes for Chinese people courage, strength and strong will. So, there’s a Chinese saying: “He    9    has never been to the Great Wall isn’t a true man.”

In 1987, the Great Wall    10     (list) on the World Heritage List.

I have been in Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi, for two years since I     1     (admit) to a PhD program in Shanxi University as an international student from Bangladesh.

Over the two years, I found myself     2     (fall) in love with Shanxi and China. I liked to cycle on the streets in Taiyuan and visit places I encountered     3     (random). The cycling tours helped to deepen     4     (I) understanding of the city. In my eyes, Taiyuan is a city     5     both history and modernity.

The city has     6     history of more than 2,500 years, the longest among all cities in China. An abundance of well-preserved ancient     7     (structure), like the temples in Jinci, the double pagodas in Yongzuo Temple, are the material evidence to help you get a glimpse into     8     ancient China looked like. Taiyuan is also a fast-growing modern city. It is ranked among the world’s top 500 cities in terms of     9    (science) research according to a recent Nature Index rating.

I hope more international students come to study in Shanxi University and to live and work in China     10     is full of opportunities.

Did you ever wish that you could foretell the future? Well, thousands of years ago, the people living in     1     is today Armenia thought they could. In the high mountains of the South Caucasus, archaeologists working at Gegharot have uncovered a fortune-telling center that     2     (date) back to the Late Bronze Age (1500-1200 B.C.). So far, three small shrines (圣地) have been unearthed, and each offers evidence of     3     (variety) methods local communities used in an attempt     4     (understand) the future.

The site of Gegharot is rather small in     5     (compare) with its neighbors. The Late Bronze Age in the South Caucasus was     6     era of centralization. Large new societies fought with one another     7     control of the region. The castle and western shrine at Gegharot are actually less than an acre in size. However, remains at the site are well preserved, thanks to destructive events that     8     (complete) destroyed it twice during its occupation.

The shrines at Gegharot offer archaeologists a rare glimpse into fortune-telling practices that would have been the closely     9     (guard) secrets. As work continues, archaeologists will learn more about these individuals and the techniques they used when they     10     (seek) to foretell the future.

The highest point on Earth has a     1    (new) announced height. Mount Everest is 29,031. 69 feet above sea level, according to survey results presented today. That is more than two feet higher     2    the altitude previously recognized by the government of Nepal.

The height,     3     was announced on December 8 in a joint     4    (state) by the Survey Department of Nepal and Chinese authorities, is the result of a multiyear project to measure the mountain. As the first serious survey of Everest in 16 years, the effort has been closely followed by the geographic community—particularly scientists analyzing how a devastating 7. 8 magnitude earthquake in 2015     5    (affect) the region.

Last spring a small group of Nepalese surveyors and guides experienced the     6    （bite) wind of a nighttime climbing, reaching the top at 3 a. m. local time.

“We long     7    (deliver) the message that we can do something with our own resources and     8    (technique) manpower,” Khimlal Gautam, chief survey officer for the project, told National Geographic last year.

In 1856, mathematician Radhanath Sickdhar found that Everest was the     9     (high) mountain in the world while he was working for the Great Trigonometrical Survey, a project devoted to surveying and mapping the Indian subcontinent. Since then, a handful     10     surveys have sought to pin down the mountain's true height with the best technology available at the time.

I have been in Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi, for two years since I     1    (admit) to a PhD program in Shanxi University as an international student.

Over the two years, I found     2    (I) falling in love with Shanxi and China as I got more familiar     3     the city, the province and the country. You have to adapt to everything—food, language and culture. But for me, the     4    (adapt) didn’t take a long period of time. I have got used to eating noodles for breakfast and using online payment via my smartphone very     5    (quick).

My favorite sport is cycling and I find China is very cyclist-friendly because it is convenient     6    (hire) bicycles in every city in the country. I like to cycle on     7     streets in Taiyuan and visit places I meet randomly. The cycling tours helped to deepen my understanding of the city.

Taiyuan     8    (have) a history of more than 2,500 years, among the     9    (old) cities in China. An abundance of well-preserved ancient structures, like the temples in Jinci, are the material evidence to help you get a quick look at     10     ancient China looked like.

I wake up to the sound of the wind buffeting the cloth of my tent. However, it’s     1    (possible) for me to tell whether it is morning or night, because the sun is     2     (bright) shining for 24 hours. Now, I’m above the Arctic Circle,     3     the sun never sets in summer.

Around 9, 000 years ago, the vast sheets of ice melted in Sarek,     4     (leave) behind about 100 glaciers. Soon after, reindeer began to arrive, and then followed the Sami people, who made Sarek their home. Today, all new development     5     (ban) within park boundaries, so only the Sami are allowed to continue their     6     (tradition) way of life in the park.

For hundreds of years,     7     (look) after reindeer was a way of life for the Sami. Since reindeer were always     8     the move, the Sami would accompany them. However, most Sami live     9     modern life in their own houses.

Hiking with all my food and supplies is really tiring, but it is a     10     (bless) to travel in such a beautiful and wild place.

China's national observatory on Monday issued a yellow alert for sandstorms in the northern part of the country. “    1    （start）from Monday to 8 a. m. Tuesday, affected by cold fronts and heavy winds, floating sand and dust       2    （expect）to sweep parts of several northern provinces and the city of Beijing,”     3    （forecast）the NMC.

Some regions in Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Shaanxi and Shanxi were hit by strong sandstorms. The capital Beijing was enveloped in yellow dust     4     Monday morning with visibility at less than 1 km,     5     followed an official yellow warning for the sandstorm. The sandstorm is the strongest and the most sweeping     6     in nearly a decade. Remote sensing images of dust in northern China show the dust from Mongolia     7    （gradual）traveled south with the airflow.

This wave of sandstorms is a result of the combined       8    （effect）of cold air and cyclones from Mongolia. “The combined action of the Mongolian cyclone and the cold high     9    （press）provided a strong impetus（动力）for the sandstorm,” said Zhang Bihui,     10     senior engineer with the NMC.

Suzhou is a cultural and historical city in China’s Jiangsu Province. It is celebrated all over the world for its classical gardens    1    have been added to the list of World Heritage Sites. They were first laid out as far back as the 6th century BC and    2     (reach) their top during the period from the 16th century to the 18th   century. Records show that there were over 200 gardens during their golden age. The gardens show the importance of natural    3     (beautiful) in Chinese culture.

Today, dozens of classical gardens are still in good condition,           4     (include) the Humble Administrator’s Garden, which    5     (have) an area of some 52, 000 square meters. No other gardens of Suzhou are    6     (large) than it. It was originally the dwelling of Lu Guimeng, a poet of the Tang Dynasty.     7     (consider) as “the mother of all gardens under the sun”, the garden    8     (divide) into the eastern, central, western and residential parts. The gardens of Suzhou are    9     (extreme) beautiful and a feast for the senses, used as both tourist attractions    10    residential houses.