Welcome to the Great Wall. I’m very delighted to be your guide here.

Thanks again for listening. Wish you a good time in Beijing!

3 . Happy April Fool’s Day! In celebration of the day, we have put together a list of some of the greatest hoaxes (恶作剧) in history. They are the lies that have been designed for innocent people who are ready to believe them.

▲INSTANT COLOR TV

In 1962 there was only one TV channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station’s Kjell Stepson, appeared on the news to announce that thanks to a newly developed technology, all viewers could now quickly and easily transform their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their TV screen, and they would begin to see their favorite shows in color. Reportedly, hundreds of thousands of people, were taken in. Actual color TV transmission only started to appear in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

▲SAN SERRIFFE

In 1977 the British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven ­page supplement (增刊) in honor of the tenth anniversary of San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean. A series of articles affectionately asked for more information about the beautiful holiday spot. Few noticed that everything about the island was made up.

▲NIXON FOR PRESIDENT

In 1992 American National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation program announced that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again. His new campaign slogan was, “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won't do it again.” Accompanying this announcement were audio clips (片段) of Nixon delivering his election speech. Listeners responded immediately to the announcement, flooding the show with calls expressing shock and anger. Only during the second half of the show did the host John Huckleberry reveal that the announcement was a practical joke. Nixon’s voice was copied by comedian Rich Little.

4 . The 24 solar terms (节气) originated and was firstly used in China. It was created thousands of years ago on the basis of practical needs of agriculture. Ancient Chinese people used it to guide agriculture production, special climate signs and even healthy living tips. The 24 solar terms was added to UNESCO’s world cultural heritage list in 2016.Now, it has been brought to life thanks to a creative designer from Southwest China’s Guizhou Province.

On the eve of the Qingming Festival, Shi Changhong released (发布) his version of reproduced and packaged characters for each solar term in the form of   “moving art” of Gifs. Since their first release on Zcool on March 29, the Gifs have won great praise among the general public and quickly flooded social media with millions of hits during the festival period.

To maximize publicity, Shi released his work in three forms: video, animation and picture. The background sounds add to the brilliance.

“When I watch the short video, I can strongly feel the Chinese ­style elements hidden in them. And it is really cool to liven up Chinese traditional culture in such a unique way,” WeChat user Xiao Feifei said.

“It is really a comfort to me to see so many people like my latest work. To be honest, it would really surprise me if the work does not arouse great interest among Chinese people. The 24 solar terms is a deeply rooted concept that covers the essence of Chinese wisdom. However, only a small portion of people know all the names or the correct order of those terms. My intention is to increase Chinese people’s self-­awareness to learn more about our traditional fine culture. Actually, the 24 solar terms work is only a part of my whole design program ‘Charm China’, which I started over a year ago，” Shi told China Daily.

Every culture in the world celebrates festivals. Though different festivals have different origins, the spirit of     1     (share) joy, gratitude, love, or peace is common in all festivals.

The harvest festival,     2     takes place after all the crops have been gathered in, can be found in almost every culture. People celebrate it       3     (show) their gratitude to the year’s supply of food. But the     4     (celebrate) vary from country to country. In ancient Egypt, it featured a parade and a great feast with music, dancing, and sports during the springtime     5     during the Mid-Autumn Festival in China, families gather to admire the shining moon and enjoy delicious mooncakes.

Customs change with the     6     (develop) of modern society. In China, many big cities     7     (give) up the custom of lighting   firecrackers in order to avoid air pollution.

Nowadays, businesses take advantage of the celebrations and make festivals     8     (commercialise). Although some are     9     it, others believe the increase in spending is good for the economy and public happiness.

Festivals reflect people’s wishes, beliefs, faiths and attitudes towards life. If you study festivals     10     (careful), you may be surprised to find that different cultures actually have a lot in common after all.

10 . It was the night of the full moon, a time which always drives Java’s young people mad with excitement.

Fireworks were lit long before the moon _________. The big noise brought people out into the warm night to enjoy the interesting scene. Everywhere, there were the paper remains of _________ fireworks lying on the ground. Little boys _________ more and covered their ears as they waited _________ for the explosions.

The moon appeared above the horizon (地平线): huge, _________ ball high above the city, and the _________ filled with people, as Java began to enjoy one of the year’s greatest _________: “the Night of the Full Moon”, a festival (节日) that is especially popular with young people.

More and more young Javanese _________ together and walked slowly through the _________. Joking and chatting, they moved towards the mountain __________ the city. They continued to climb until they reached the old temple (寺庙) at the __________ of the mountain.

After they were inside the temple, they drank their water and ate their mooncakes — delicious homemade ones, __________ of dried fruit and nuts. Outside, on the mountain, young people __________ cross-legged in circles, chatting and telling each other jokes. And still, in their hundreds, more young people continued to make their way up the mountain to __________ the brightly shining moon.

By midnight, the fireworks had stopped __________ up from the gray city in the valley below them. But during the night, the sound continued to be heard from the distance.