2 . Last year I attended the annual autumn saffron (藏红花) harvest festival on a trip in Italy, known as the sagra. Giovannina Sarra and her family ________ me at their home. Early the next morning, we ________ among the fields and participated in the harvest.

Saffron , taken from the stigmas (柱头) of the saffron flower, is a(n) ________ crop. Also called red gold, it is a(n) ________ from Spain, first introduced into the region around the 13th century. Saffron is ________ in the hours just before ________, while the petals (花瓣) are closed. This helps protect their precious stigmas and makes the flowers easier to ________, especially preferred by the acquirers (收购商). Later, on the same day, the stigmas — three ________ strings per flower — are separated from the petals. It’s a delicate ________ that takes hours with a skilled and ________ hand. In the evening, over an open wood fire, the stringlike stigmas are ________ to make saffron powder to add to the richness of the color and the flavor, which brings considerable income.

Now sitting at a mouth-watering plate of Risotto alla Milanese, a dish cooked with saffron, I ________ the freezing morning with Sarra and her family. There’s no ________ that it is the families like the Sarras that stick to the many ________ that have survived from generation to generation. ________ more people will join them.

The most difficult part of a Chinese-Western marriage is the cultural differences. The traditional Chinese culture is     1     on the Confucian philosophy (儒家哲学). However, the Western culture is founded on ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. Cultural differences exist in almost every aspect and are therefore reflected in     2     relationship and marriage.

It is not easy to keep a Chinese-Western relationship, for cultural differences may result in     3    . From the traditional Chinese     4    , marriage is a relationship involving family, friends and relatives. In contrast, Westerners’ marriages recognize the     5     and privacy of the couple.

That is why Westerners sometimes cannot understand why we Chinese need to support our     6     if we are asked to do so. Chinese people need to maintain their “face” and “relations”. Even in a relationship, we are somehow still     7     to our family and relatives. Our partner has to understand it and at least does not oppose it.

My suggestion for the cross-cultural relationship is always trying to put yourself in the other’s shoes; always     8     your partner but making clear your own red lines; showing your interest in the     9     culture and carefully remarking on it and so on.

There have been more and more cross-cultural marriages     10     recently. I would like to take this chance to sincerely wish them the very best in their love journeys.

8 . Norwegians would perhaps highlight their custom of “gå på tur” — going on a journey on foot or on skis. In Denmark, everyone knows what “hygge” is — to freely enjoy the good life with the people you love. They’re the issues of “intangible cultural heritage”, things that cannot be physically touched such as traditions, stories, music, dance, and craft skills.

In 2003, Unesco, the education, science and culture organization of the United Nations (UN), adopted an agreement to “preserve the intangible”, and many developing-world countries were quick to get their traditions included on the official list. But it would take almost 10 years for “Agreement for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage” to be approved by the Scandinavian countries.

Annika Sjöberg is responsible for managing the work of the agency in Sweden. She has been, and continues to be, flooded with suggestions of intangible cultural heritage worthy of protection, submitted by committed citizens and organizations wanting to see their particular traditions included on the list that should be ready sometime in the next couple of years.

Suggestions have also been received concerning various maritime traditions: old shipwright skills such as the building of wooden hulled vessels, are in decline and at risk of being lost forever.

“Our work has attracted considerable attention as it is regarded as being a little out in left field,” says Sjöberg. “In addition, it’s also opened people’s eyes to the fact that the things we can’t physically touch indeed have a major bearing on the way in which we live. Even in an urbanized society, there is knowledge we carry with us that we’ve inherited from previous generations — knowledge that’s important to preserve and take care of.”

Sjöberg explains that the point is not to preserve this cultural heritage in a stony, rigid form, as traditions must be allowed to change and evolve. She also emphasizes that her work should not be interpreted as a nationalistic project, rather as a means of multicultural spreading.

It’s actually a matter of documenting the knowledge that exists in the various traditions. What is most exciting is the diversity that now exists and the ways in which different cultures interact with each other.

We often hear about the importance of cultural heritage. But what is cultural heritage and why is it important?

First of all, let’s have a look at the meaning of the words. “Heritage” is a property, something that is inherited, passed down from previous generations. In the case of “cultural heritage,” the heritage doesn’t consist of money or property, but of culture, values and traditions. Cultural heritage implies a shared bond, our belonging to a community. It represents our history and our identity; our bond to the past, to our present, and the future.

Cultural heritage often brings to mind artifacts (paintings, drawings, prints, mosaics, sculptures), historical monuments and buildings, as well as archaeological sites. But the concept of cultural heritage is even wider than that, and has gradually grown to include all evidence of human creativity and expression: photographs, documents, books and manuscripts, and instruments, etc. either as individual objects or as collections. Today, towns, underwater heritage, and the natural environment are also considered part of cultural heritage since communities identify themselves with the natural landscape.

Moreover, cultural heritage is not only limited to material objects that we can see and touch. It also consists of immaterial elements: traditions, oral history, performing arts, social practices, traditional craftsmanship, representations, rituals, knowledge and skills transmitted from generation to generation within a community.

But cultural heritage is not just a set of cultural objects or traditions from the past. It is also the result of a selection process: a process of memory and forgetfulness that characterizes every human society constantly engaged in choosing — for both cultural and political reasons — what is worthy of being preserved for future generations and what is not.

All peoples make their contribution to the culture of the world. That’s why it’s important to respect and safeguard all cultural heritage, through national laws and international treaties. Illicit trafficking of artifacts and cultural objects, pillaging of archaeological sites, and destruction of historical buildings and monuments cause irreparable damage to the cultural heritage of a country. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), founded in 1946, has adopted international conventions on the protection of cultural heritage, to foster intercultural understanding while stressing the importance of international cooperation.