There comes a time when the old must give way to the new. Finding and     1    (keep) the balance between progress and the protection of cultural sites can be     2     big challenge.

In the 1950s, the Egyptian government wanted     3    (build) a new dam across the Nile to benefit more farmers,     4     lead to protests. The government turned     5     the United Nations for help. Then a committee     6    (establish) to limit damage to the Egyptian buildings.     7    (final), a document was signed, and the work began in 1960.

When the project ended in 1980, it was considered a great     8    (succeed). The spirit of the Aswan Dam project     9    (be) still alive today. If a problem seems too difficult for a single nation, the     10    (globe) community can sometimes provide a solution.

5 . The Qingming Festival is usually celebrated with a three-day national holiday, whose name originates (起源) from the saying “Plants start to revive (复活) and prosper at Qingming in a clean and bright way.” Thus, the festival is called Qingming, which means “clean and bright”.     1    Tomb sweeping is aimed at commemorating family ancestors, while going on a spring outing allows everyone the chance to enjoy the beautiful scenery and enjoy the season.

Traditional customs

Tomb sweeping.     2     On this day, the whole family gathers in front of their ancestral tombs. They offer fruit and wine to their ancestors and clear the weeds from around the tomb. Finally, they kowtow and pray, hoping for their ancestors’ blessing for the rest of the year.

Spring outings. The time around the Qingming Festival is one of the most suitable seasons for a spring outing, as plants are thriving and flowers are blooming. People can have a great time outdoors with their friends and family.     3    

Traditional food

Qingtuan is a green rice ball tiny enough to fit into your hand.     4     It is a mixture of sticky rice powder and green vegetable juice. Stuffed (装满) with sweetened bean paste, Qingtuan tastes sweet with the fresh fragrance of Aicao, a green spring vegetable. In celebration of Qingming, people from Shaanxi make steamed buns known as Huamo, which are made into different shapes.     5     Some are for peaceful family life, while others represent (象征) the wish for health.

China on October 12     1     (official) announced the first group of national parks. Home to nearly 30 percent of the key wildlife species found in China, they cover     2     protected land area of 230,000 square kilometers.

The     3     (establish) of the first group of national parks is a practical move by China     4     (show) its effort to promote natural ecological protection.

The Three-River-Source National Park     5     (locate) on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau—known as the world’s “third pole”. The Giant Panda National Park protects the major habitats of 70 percent of the country’s wild giant pandas. The Hainan Rainforest National Park is home to China’s largest rainforest and the Hainan gibbon. The Wuyi Mountain National Park experimental area is the only park in China     6     is listed as a UNESCO cultural and     7     (nature) heritage site. It emphasizes sustainable development between     8     (human) and nature,     9     (reflect) China’s environmental protection principle.

Commercial activities are banned in the national parks and are all put     10     the control of the national rules for ecological protection.

7 . Four unusual festivals around the world

The Wife Carrying World Championships — Sonkajärvi, Finland

Although the exact origins of the tradition are unknown because of its long history, but today, wife carrying is practiced around the world. Participants are allowed to carry their wives in various ways, including a piggyback or a fireman’s carry (over the shoulder). The prize for winning the race is the wife’s weight in beer.

The Monkey Buffet (自助餐) Festival — Lopburi, Thailand

You may consider how a monkey would taste, but this is a buffet for monkeys. The local monkeys in Lopburi are gifted with a feast of tons of fruits, vegetables, cakes, and candies every November. After the monkeys are given the treats, youths dressed up as monkeys perform dances. The festival first took place in 1989, run by a local businessman to boost tourism in Lopburi. Luckily for him and the monkeys, it worked.

The Boryeong Mud Festival — Boryeong, South Korea

The festival first took place in 1998, and it was originally created as a marketing event for Boryeong mud cosmetics (化妆品). The mud from Boryeong is considered rich in natural minerals and is used to make beauty products. Popular activities include mud swimming, mud slides and mud skiing.

The La Tomatina Festival — Buñol, Valencia, Spain

The festival has been organized annually in August in Buñol since 1940s, when a noisy crowd take the tomatoes from a vegetable stall and start a food fight. The hour — long tomato fight used up about 145,000 kg of tomatoes in 2015. Since 2013 it has been a ticketed event to limit participants to just 20,000.

8 . The Chinese art of paper cutting has a long history. The earliest paper cutting was found in China in the Northern Dynasties. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) has recognized the art, called Jianzhi, on its Intangible (非物质的) Cultural Heritage (遗产) list. Voyo Woo, who is a Chinese student studying in the US, hopes to introduce the traditional Chinese art to Americans in her spare time.

Ms. Woo loves paper cutting. And she works hard to celebrate the ancient art form. On a recent Saturday, Ms. Woo held a paper cutting show at a shopping center near Washington. She demonstrated the art to the crowds for hours at the shopping center.

Ms. Woo began to study the art of Jianzhi as a 14-year-old girl in her hometown in southeastern China. She said all the students at school had to learn the art. However, she developed a special love for it, so her teacher gave her extra training after class. Later, she won second prize in a national painting and calligraphy competition.

After Ms. Woo came to the US, she became involved in an event to support and expand the understanding of Chinese paper cutting. She has been invited to demonstrate the art at a wide collection of events. She has also shown her skill at famous museums in Washington. Ms. Woo says paper cutting represents Chinese cultural values, history and stories of people’s lives. She uses the art as a tool to present Chinese culture to people who know little about it.

Ms. Woo placed examples of her art around her as she demonstrated paper cutting at the shopping center. Some shoppers, like Ann Russ, took part in a workshop. Ms. Russ was struck (打动) by the finely detailed nature of the work. “ I like to know about the Chinese art, specifically because it is very delicate (精致的). And I like the focus that it requires because it takes me out of everything. And we have to concentrate on something very closely. It is almost relaxing to put that much effort into it. ” Ms. Russ says.

9 . “You’re going to the United States to live? How wonderful! You’re really lucky!”

Does this sound familiar? Perhaps your family and friends said similar things to you when you left home. But does it seem true all the time? Is your life in this new country always wonderful and exciting? A great many facts show that it’s not easy for newcomers to get used to life in a new culture. They have to experience culture shock.

What causes culture shock? Maybe the weather is unpleasant. Perhaps the customs are different. Perhaps the public service systems such as the telephone, post office, or transportation are difficult to figure out and you make mistakes. The simplest things seem difficult. The language may be difficult. The food may seem strange to you. If you don’t look similar to the natives, you may feel strange. You may feel as if everyone is watching you. In fact, you are always watching yourself.

Everyone experiences culture shock in some form or another. But culture shock comes as a surprise to most people. A lot of the time, the people with the worst culture shock are the people who never had any difficulties in their own countries. They were active and successful in their community (社区). They had hobbies which they enjoyed. When they come to a new country, they do not have the same positions or hobbies as they already had in their countries. They find themselves without a role, almost without an identity. They have to build a new self-image.

Culture shock produces a feeling of disorientation (晕头转向), which may be homesickness, imagined illness, or even paranoia (偏执症). When people feel the disorientation of culture shock, they sometimes feel like staying inside all the time. They want to protect themselves from the unfamiliar environment. They want to create an escape within their room to give themselves a sense of security. This escape does solve the problem of culture shock for the short term, but it does nothing to familiarize the person more with the culture. Familiarity and experience are the long-term ways to settle the problem of culture shock.