4 . Living in a foreign culture can be exciting. But it can also be_________. A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their_________. They decided that miscommunications were always_________, even over something as_________as “yes” and “no”.

On her first day in Micronesia, Lisa thought people were_________her requests. The day was_________, and she needed a cold drink. She went into a store and asked, “Do you have cold drinks?” The woman there didn’t say anything. Lisa_________the question. Still the woman said nothing. Lisa gave up and left the store. She later learnt that the woman had_________her: She had raised her eyebrows, which in Micronesia means “yes”.

This_________Jan of an experience she had in Bulgaria. She had gone to a restaurant that was well-known for a__________named stuffed cabbage (塞馅卷心菜). She asked the waiter, “Do you have stuffed cabbage today?” He__________his head. Jan eagerly waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means “no”.

Tom had a__________problem when he arrived in India. After__________something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They responded with many different nods and shakes of the heads. He guessed some people had not understood, so he explained again. When he asked again if they understood, they did the same thing. He soon__________that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake their heads in different ways according to where they come from. You have to know where a person is from to__________whether they are indicating (表示) “yes” or “no”.

Last Thursday,a series of colourful activities were organized to extend our warmly welcome to our guests:a group of foreign teachers from our sister school.

The foreign friends attend quit a few optional course representative of our school.But they visited the school gallery.It is housed a lot of art works created by students from Grade 3,included calligraphy(书法),and Chinese paintings.Which impressed them most was the pleasant learning atmosphere of his school.

Apart from strengthening the friendship among the two schools,these activities gave us better understanding of our own culture.

People say that the real culture of Beijing lies in the culture of hutong and siheyuan. The hutongs     1    (form) by lines of siheyuan, which is a type of residence     2     houses are purposely built to form squares or rectangles (长方形) in order to create a type of     3    (tradition) courtyard. In the mid 20th century, several hutongs in Beijing had been torn down     4    (pave) way for the development of infrastructure (基础设施).     5    , thanks to efforts designed to safeguard this significant aspect of the Chinese architectural culture, many hutongs have been preserved.

Because of the interlacement (交织) of the lanes, every house is connected to the other,     6    (make) it easy for local people to keep     7     touch with their neighbors. Therefore, once one enters any of the lanes, one can feel the deep and warm relationships among people, which are     8    (rare) found in this modern world.

In the twisted lanes one can experience the life of the locals. It is just like a community. These    9    (lane) have witnessed the development of Beijing. Where there is such a lane, there is a story. If one wants to explore the culture and experience Beijing hutong food and hutong shopping,     10     hutong tour should not be missed.

8 . The “24 solar terms” (节气) originated and was first used in China. It was created thousands of years ago on the basis of practical needs of agricultural. Ancient Chinese people used it to guide agricultural production, explain special climate signs and even come up with healthy living tips. Last year, the 24 solar terms was added to UNESCO's world cultural heritage list(联合国教科文组织世界文化遗产名录). Now, it has been brought to life thanks to a creative designer from Southwest China's Guizhou Province.

On the eve of this year's 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 the social media with millions of hits during the festival period.

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

“When I watch the short video, I can strongly feel the Chinese-style elements hidden in it. And it is really cool to liven up traditional Chinese 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 had not aroused 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 a year ago.” Shi told China Daily.

9 . China is a country with many colorful days and festivals. The Dragon Head Raising Day (Longtaitou) is one of them. This special day is on the second day of the second month in the Chinese lunar calendar (阴历). It stands for the start of spring and farming. This year, the day falls on March 4th.

The dragon is important in Chinese culture. We Chinese people call ourselves the “descendants (传人) of the dragon”. Therefore, people celebrate the Dragon Head Raising Day with many customs about dragons.

On the day in ancient times, people put ashes (灰) in the kitchen. This was to “lead the dragon into the house”. People believed that with the help of the dragon, they could have a good harvest in autumn.

Also, people eat special foods on that day. The foods are usually named after dragons. For example, people eat “dragon whisker (细须)” noodles and dumplings called “dragon teeth”.

Today, many customs have faded away. But one that has remained is the cutting of hair. It was said that a haircut during the first lunar month may bring bad luck to the mother’s brothers. So many people have their hair cut on the Dragon Head Raising Day.