2 . Symbol of rebirth, but also of protection, Easter eggs are a must. But what are the traditions that centre on them? Here are some curiosities from around the world.

Easter Egg Hunting in England

Among the most original rituals, the English Easter Egg Hunt deserves a place of honour. On Easter Sunday, children go hunting for eggs in parks and gardens, surrounded by people dressed up as Easter bunnies: only those who find the eggs hidden by family members will receive the surprise brought by the Easter Bunny.

Easter Egg Roll at the White House

In the United States, the annual White House Easter Egg Roll was born for the first time on April 22, 1878. A game that consists in letting the eggs slide on the grass for as long as possible without breaking them, where it’s possible to come across well-known personalities in the role of the Easter bunny.

Colourful Confetti (五彩纸屑) in Mexico

In Central America, a cheerful and unusual ritual: los cascarones. That is egg shells (壳) emptied out and filled with coloured confetti. Tissue paper sheets are used to hold the egg together, but not to worry if the result is not accurate. No one complains: this seems to be a custom brought by Marco Polo from China, where the shells were filled with spices (香料).

The Giant Omelette in France

Easter is associated with “abundance”, and the French prepare a giant omelette with over 4,500 eggs in Haux. Legend has it that Napoleon started this tradition after falling in love with the omelette in the town. It is served in the city’s main square and can feed over a thousand people.

Peking Opera is a form of traditional Chinese theatre     1     combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics(杂技).     2     (date) back to the 18th century, Peking Opera has over two hundred years of history. The form was     3     (extreme) popular in the Qing Dynasty court and has come to be     4     (regard) as one of the cultural treasures of China.

Starting with an orchestra playing traditional Chinese instruments, the opera brought a completely new sound to my Western     5     (ear). The costumes and masks were amazing. The performers of course sang in Chinese,     6     the music, exaggerated movements and mime helped get the meanings     7     to the audience. The voices     8     (they) sounded really unique and the stage was really simple: a     9     (decorate) whip represented a horse, and a screen with Chinese characters, a study. Using such techniques, the opera had transformed a small stage into     10     whole universe.

4 . In China, the Spring Festival is the most important of all the holidays in the year. Two important things ___________ to make this holiday different from all the others: giving presents and spending it ___________ the family. Many weeks ___________ the Spring Festival, we know it is coming. In the ___________ goods for this special holiday appear and outside them are the special New Year decorations. The advertisement ___________ all the newspapers tell us that there are “Only five ___________ shopping days to Spring Festival”. ___________ you go, you will realize that.

Spring Festival, which comes “only ___________ a year”, is coming again. Giving ___________ to one’s family is a very sweet custom. The spirit behind the present matters most, not the present ____________. It is good at Spring Festival to ____________ to the hometown and meet parents, grandparents and as many aunts, uncles and cousins as possible.

In the past, ____________ New Year’s Eve, all the members of a family ____________ stay at home making dumplings together. ____________ many people enjoy watching TV. During the day, children wear their new clothes. The evening is usually spent in games, talking, more eating and ____________.

Book Restorers Touch History

—Keeping ancient manuscripts in tip-top condition requires expertise and passion—

Whenever Song Jing visits a museum, she makes a point of checking out the section on ancient books. In addition to appreciating the wisdom    1     (hide) in those historical volumes, she focuses on how they are bound and presented.

Song works in the restoration division for ancient books at the National Library of China which is home to about 3 million ancient manuscripts, many of which require restoration before they can see    2    light of day again. Some books have suffered great loss. Take, for example, a 16th-century copy of Yongle Dadian. Only 3.5 percent of the total publication are known    3     (exist).

The process of repairing ancient books is complex. Day after day, Song and her colleagues are fully immersed    4    the duty of handling and healing the old books. Thanks to cutting-edge technology, restorers can create paper    5     (incredible) similar to the original version. However, the old-fashioned techniques still come in handy sometimes.    6     (fear) the chemicals in commercially produced paste might harm the books, restorers have to make the glues by themselves. The paste needs to be mixed right before the repair,    7    it will go bad because of sitting for too long.

The valuable cultural heritage that restorers have preserved    8     (serve) as the best evidence of Chinese civilization. Recently, the library has sent    9     (it) specialists like Song to deliver speeches in colleges and on TV. “I’m glad to see such    10     (arrange) and I hope to inspire people to find their passion in the preservation of our traditional culture,” Song says.

The Year of the Rabbit fell, with Chinese New Year     1     (arrive) on January 22 in 2023.

After gathering countless audiences’ favorite     2     (option) and through systematic and informative big data research, the 2023 Spring Festival Gala official logo and mascot (吉祥物) image, “Tu Yuanyuan,” was born. It is the first intellectual property (知识产权) mascot     3     (develop) through big data analysis in the 40-year history of the Spring Festival Gala.

The overall image     4     (base) on the characteristics of the Chinese white rabbit and combines the aesthetic (审美的) style of gongbi,     5     careful realist technique in Chinese painting, and then completed using 3D modeling technology.

In Chinese culture, rabbits are quiet, smart and agile (敏捷的). Many Chinese idioms speak of these features. For example, people often say dongruo tuotu     6     (praise) people for moving     7     (quick). Jiaotu sanku means that a smart rabbit always has many holes,     8     makes it hard for people to find it. The rabbit also stands for the moon. People used to believe a rabbit was living on the moon. The rabbit is called the Jade Rabbit or the Moon Rabbit. It is the pet of the moon goddess Chang’e.

Rabbits can have a lot of babies in a short time. In this way, people in the past also saw the rabbit     9     a good sign. They believed     10     (have) more children could bring them good luck and happiness.