The Honghe Hani Rice Terraces(梯田), in southern Yunnan, China, cover a huge 16, 603-hectare area. The terraces,     1    (know)to all of the world now, were made out of a thick forest by the Hani people. The terraces rise at different angles from a shallow 15°    2     a steep 75°, forming a wonderful landscape(景观)that     3    (be)rare in the world.

In 2003, the terraced fields were     4    (official)recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural and Natural Heritage site. About 1,300 years ago, the Hani people first     5    (come)to the steep mountains. They struggled against the difficult terrain(地形), successfully creating the terraces, where they grew rice in order to make     6    (they) living. Over the past 1,300 years, the Hani people have developed a complex system of channels     7    (bring)water from the forested mountaintops. They show great appreciation for natural phenomena such as rivers, mountains, the sun, fire     8     the moon. They have also created a complete farming system     9     involves cattle, ducks, and fish and supports the     10    (produce)of red rice, the area's main crop.

The landscape changes through the year. In April the terraces are all green as rice starts to grow; in later parts of the year it is yellowish brown as the rice ripens. In February, the terraces become bare earth, with the water reflecting(反射)the sky.

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.