1 . Nguyen Thi Thu is one of the few remaining artists practicing and constantly enhancing the traditional Vietnamese art of sculpting realistic-looking flowers out of papaya (番木瓜树) fruits.

Thu became ________ in carving various flowers from papaya fruits at the age of 15, when she ________ a class on the art of sculpting fruit. She was fascinated by the ________ art form, but then she had to ________ to Russia and stayed there for 15 years. Thu couldn’t ________ her favorite art form because she was too busy working and had no ________ to green papayas. She ________ it with all sorts of other fruits and vegetables, but nothing was quite like the papaya she ________. When she returned to Hanoi in 2009, she ________ got back into papaya sculpting, and she has been practicing the art ever since.

Over the years, Thu has ________ herself to carve various types of flowers, but her favourite by far is also one of the most ________, the chrysanthemum (菊花). Creating a single flower takes between 45 minutes and over an hour,________ the complexity of the design. “I often fall asleep thinking of how to ________ a certain flower, and then I get out of bed to practice,” Thu said.

Apart from ________ her art form during various public events and creating delicate papaya flowers, Thu also holds classes in Hanoi, as a way of ________ the traditional art form.

2 . May is a beautiful month full of sunshine and flowers. It is also the __________ when we show thanks to our mothers on Mother’s Day.

In my family, the celebration of Mother’s Day is __________ every year. Two years ago, I made a big __________ for my mom and she still remembers all the dishes I cooked that morning. Last year, I __________ some of my old books and I bought her a scarf with the money. She uses it all the time.

I wanted to do __________ special on Mother’s Day this year. In late April, I started to look for different gift __________ on the Internet. It took me about two weeks to get a final idea. __________ , I decided to make several (几个) cards by hand. And then I put the cards and a bag of colorful __________ in a box. Of course, I wrote some____________ on the cards. The words were all about __________ jobs I could help my mom do at home, like doing the dishes and cleaning the floor.

On the night before Mother’s Day, I went into my mom’s room __________ and put the gift on her bed when she was sleeping. When she __________ in the morning, she found the cards. She was very excited about my gift and __________ a lot of time looking at the cards and enjoyed the candies.

Mother’s Day is a happy moment (时光) for me to __________ my mom. I will try to show my love __________ she cares about me so much every day. Mother’s love is the best in my heart.

4 . I was raised in a village where people lived in harmony with the natural environment. Throughout the year we would have numerous ______where all the villagers would ______and celebrate. The entire village was like one big______.

However, within less than a decade my village was no longer the______village that I grew up in. Due to rapid modernization, everything______. The rich cultural traditions that once held the village together were ______. Everyone in the village was______in making money and had no time to participate in traditional celebrations. No one favored such a change, but they somehow______it as they felt that it was unavoidable.

It made me feel______that some ancient traditions had stopped to exist, so I______I had to do something. I ______the Cultural Heritage Studies Program, which enabled me to gain a better understanding of cultural heritage______.

Then I involved myself in protecting cultural heritage sites in my hometown. With the knowledge I______in the Cultural Heritage Studies Program, I was trying my best to help make the process of modernization run more______ for cultural heritage sites with heritage protection as a focus point.

I would say the success of the preservation work is the most______aspect of my job.

6 . As an immigrant from China, my mother loves Chinese culture deeply. She _________ Chinese food every night. She prefers to do it herself at home because she thinks the local restaurants aren’t authentic. _________, strangely enough, she likes to take my son to Panda Express to have _________ with her friends who are also from China. She is even _________ to point it out whenever they are at a food court.

Why is American Chinese food not _________ among some Chinese Americans? How is American Chinese food not better than _________ Chinese food? I can’t _________ that it’s not as good as authentic Chinese food. In fact, authentic Chinese food really tastes better while American Chinese food _________ to have food with its own taste — they are right for different persons. It’s important to _________ American Chinese food from authentic Chinese food. They are not the same __________ and have their own characteristics. So they should be treated __________. That’s why my mother thinks that Panda Express is not very authentic, but can still __________ it. Actually, American Chinese food is often created by Chinese immigrants according to their own preferences. As people from various countries have differences in their __________, it is changing.

My mother has a deep feeling for authentic Chinese food and restaurants, so I decide to open a restaurant where she and other immigrants can feel the __________ of Chinese family dinner. My son says he’ll learn Chinese cooking skills from me, which, I think, should be __________ from age to age. Likewise, I’ll also pass on the Chinese food culture to the world.

9 . Bai Peilan is the Chinese name of Mexican academic Flora Botton Beja, a professor at the Center for Asian and African Studies at El Colegio de Mexico. The Chinese _________ lan in her name stands for orchid (兰花) in English. In traditional Chinese culture, the orchid _________ elegance, nobility and friendship.

Now in her 90s, she was _________ with the outstanding achievement award at the Orchid Awards on Sept. 8, _________ decades of devotion to studying and introducing China to all Spanish-speaking countries.

Born in Greece, Botton moved to Mexico with her family at the age of 15, where she set out on a _________ journey that finally tied her destiny (命运) to that of China. She is now respected as one of the _________ in the field of Sinology in Mexico. For her, what started out as a suitable academic arrangement _________ developed into a deep love affair with China.

As one of the first academics in Mexico to focus on China in the 1960s, Botton _________ to dip into the rich tapestry (织锦) of traditional Chinese culture, reflecting her _________ that “knowing about the past is necessary to understand the present”.

Botton first traveled to China in 1975, and she later worked at the Mexican embassy (大使馆) in China, actively ________ cultural exchange efforts.

After her diplomatic tenure (外交任期), she continued __________ cultural exchanges between China and Mexico. She translated Chinese classic books into Spanish, enriching the understanding of Chinese culture among Spanish-speaking __________. And she also dealt with modern and contemporary China, __________ research on society, family and women.

As a promoter between two __________ cultures, Botton has concluded that Mexico and China share traditional values of family __________, as well as respect for the elderly and for regional cultures.

10 . 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.