1 . Cars have become more than vehicles for moving things. They have stolen our American’s hearts. After the Second World War, middle-class white-collar workers _________ into the suburbs in large numbers, taking their cars with them.

Our car culture really began to _________ in the fifties. More jobs and economic growth _________ the rapid development of driving. The idea spread that cars _________ freedom—hot, fast and good-looking. We were on the road. _________ by self-important fashions, we drove through the twentieth century, and into the harbor of twenty-first century.

We are a nation _________ our cars. Go to any small town in this country and count how many classic cars you see. Pull into a shopping mall parking lot and _________ the luxury(豪华) cars. Ask any teenager how _________ he or she wants to get a driver’s license, or any _________ citizen how long he or she would like to keep his/her own car.

My dad was particularly __________ to that national romance which has affected America for many years. In my childhood I often joked that I never knew what kind of car my dad might __________ the parking space with. I was half serious. My dad had a strange interest in trading cars. For a while, the bigger it was, the __________. Some of my dad’s cars __________ little more than a month. Some lasted a couple of years. And at his very worst, late last year, he owned two Buicks, an Audi A6 and a truck. Somewhere among them, my mother __________ to find a place to park her little Fiat finally. Although we laugh at him a little, compared with those who love cars, my dad is not that __________.

2 . Cities are a world of convenience. In cities, people have access to a large number of _________. Public transportation, well-equipped hospitals and social services _________ comfortable living. But services don't make up for the fact that big cities are often lonely, impersonal places. People can easily _________ themselves from others. Creating a sense of community, then, becomes urgent (紧急的). Some psychologists say that community art — art that is made to be shown free of charge in a particular community — can make a big _________.

Unlike the random (随意的) graffiti (涂鸦) that many people _________ an unpleasant thing, community art can bring people together and encourage respect. In the U.S. city of Philadelphia, _________, psychologists are doing a citywide project where mental health patients work with average people to paint murals (壁画). The aim of this project is to reduce the negative effects of _________ illness and promote a new dialogue between people who _________ these issues.

Art also makes neighborhoods more attractive and has a(an) _________ ability to open people up. Neighbors can share comments on a recently painted mural which can __________ their prejudice (偏见) and open their eyes to the world.

__________ can also be improved by community art. In Fort Smith, a town in the U.S. state of Arkansas, artists from around the globe came together to paint murals. One of the goals of the project was to expand the town's cultural offerings in order to __________ more visitors. Not only locals but also tourists were drawn to see the murals. The money they spent while visiting the town __________ local businesses.

"I Love your neighbor" is a(an) __________ job for everyone. But if a little extra color can make cities warmer, more welcoming places, then let's take some __________ and get to work.

3 . What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word “culture”？ Do you think of different groups of people across the world with various ____and clothing? What about animals?

Sam Williams,executive director of the Macaw(金刚鹦鹉）Recovery Network in Costa Rica, helps to ___the impact of the decline of macaw populations by taking birds that were born____and releasing them into the wild. But this process is very___

＂In a cage,you can't____them to know where,when and how to find that food, or about trees with good nest sites," Williams told ecologist and writer Carl Safina for the Guardian. In the wild, the parents would be the ones to teach them this important __

This type of knowledge is known as cultural knowledge. Cultural knowledge can be___ from the older generation to the newer one. For many species,cultural knowledge is necessary for ___

Culture helps animals to____different habitats.For example,some crows(乌鸦）have learned to put nuts in the middle of the road for cars to drive over. And in other areas, they have learned to do this at intersections so they can____get the food when the cars stop at red lights.

Other important parts of cultural knowledge include things like group identity, using different tools,taking different____routes and using different socializing methods.

These traditions can especially be seen in chimpanzee communities. Cat Hobaiter,who studies chimpanzees in Uganda,said:"It's not just the____of populations of chimps that worries me.I find____the possibility of losing each population's unique culture. That's permanent.”

Culture isn't just for____.Culture is also an important part of life in the wild from using tools to____.

4 . The Double Seventh Festival, also known as the Qixi Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival. Here is a beautiful story _______ it.

Long，long ago, there was a young man named Niulang(Cowherd), One day, he_______a   beautiful girl- Zhinu( Weaver girl)， the Goddess s seventh daughter. She had just run away from the_______ heaven(天国) to look for fun on Earth. Zhini soon_______Niulang, and they got married without telling the Goddess. Niulang worked in the field and Zhinu wove(织布) at home. They_______a happy life and gave birth to a boy and a girl. Unluckily, the Goddess soon found out the fact and_______ Zhinii to return to heaven. After Zhini left， Niulang was _______upset. With the help of his magic cow,Niulang flew to heaven with his children to look for his wife. The Goddess discovered this and was very_______Taking out her hairpin(发簪), the Goddess created a wide river in the sky to separate(分开) the two_______. From then on, Niulang and Zhini had to live________ on the two sides of the river. However,their true love________ all the magpies(喜鹊) in the world, ________once a year tens of thousands of   magpies would fly up to heaven to make a bridge- the bridge of magpies for the couple to meet each other. At last, the Goddess allowed ________ to meet each   other on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month. That's________the Double Seventh Festival started. Today,   it is a great________for Chinese young people to express their love.

5 . In India, almost all marriages are arranged. Even among the educated middle classes in modern urban India, marriage is as much a concern of the families as it is of the___________. So customary is the practice of_________marriage that there is a special name for it: a "love match".

On my first trip to India, I met many young men and women whose parents were in the process of "getting them married". In many cases, the bride and groom would not meet each other before the marriage. _________they might meet for a brief conversation, and this meeting would take place only after their parents had decided that the match was___________. Parents do not force their children to marry a person who either marriage partner finds unacceptable. But only after one match is refused will another be sought.

As a young American woman in India for the first time, I found this custom of arranged marriage _________How could any intelligent young person _________ to such a marriage without great reluctance? It was_________ to everything I believed about the importance of romantic love as the only basis of a happy marriage.   It was also in conflict with my strongly held beliefs that the choice of such a close and permanent relationship could be made only by individuals___________If anyone had tried to arrange my marriage, I would not have been___________!

Sita, one of my young friends, was a college graduate with a degree in political science. She had been____________ for over a year while her parents were arranging a match for her. I found it difficult to accept the obedient （顺从的） manner in which this well-educated young woman awaited the outcome of a process that would __________ her spending the rest of her life with a man she hardly knew, a total stranger, __________ by her parents.

In frustration and distress, I asked her, "Don't you__________who you marry? ""Of course I care, "she answered." This is why I must let my parents choose a boy for me. My marriage is too important to be arranged by such a (n) _   ________ person as myself. In such matters, it is better to have my parents'__________”。

6 . With their visas in hand and their bags packed, students may feel prepared for their study abroad experiences. _______ once they set foot in foreign lands, some students realize that they don’t have the skills to communicate their thoughts and feelings in their _______ culture.

Guo Yichen, a student at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, observed a (an) _______ of poor communication during her time abroad.

When Guo first got to the US, she stayed in the house of a 63-year-old lady, with another Chinese girl. Guo and her housemate were _______ to take turns tidying up the bathroom. But the housemate never _______, because she didn’t know how. Her mother had always cleaned the bathroom for her back home. And when the landlord asked about it, the housemate _______ replied, “I never needed to do housework back home, and I won’t do it here _______.”

“I was shocked by how _______ her answer was,” said Guo. “She could have explained it in a better way.” It was _______ surprise that the girl was asked to move out almost immediately.

In fact, “difficulty in ________” is among the three major psychological problems that ZMN Education, an agency on overseas education, ________ among Chinese students studying abroad, the other two being “fear of class discussion” and “fear of homework based on critical thinking”.

A professor at the University of California, Berkeley, once told the agency that many of his Chinese students only came to see him when they got __________ scores. They should have talked to him after each class to get a better grade __________, he said.

According to the agency, studying abroad itself may trigger (引发) certain mental problems because it is a “________ and stressful shift to new environments and ________”. It has been found that students are 23 times more likely to ________ a mental health condition than business travelers headed abroad.

And during this period of major life transitions (过渡), ________ better communication skills is particularly vital. It helps you get assistance and solve problems.

Students need to understand the value of empathy—the effective awareness of the emotions of others—as well as ________ themselves clearly, especially in cross-cultural communications. It would be better if students participate in a(an) __________ abroad program during vacations before trying year-long overseas study. That way, they could have __________ coping with a strange world independently.

7 . I have learnt a lot about Chinese life and culture while teaching in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province and found them very interesting.

First, family life quite __________ in China from that in the USA. In the USA, many young people ___________ home after they finish their education and start working. However, in China, it is _________ for people to live with their parents until they get married. _________, many of my Chinese friends told me that their _________ lived with them and helped take care of them when they were children. It seems that Americans think independence is more important __________ the Chinese think family relationships are more important.

Bargaining(讨价还价）is another __________ that I have tried to learn. In the USA, prices are __________ and you can’t ask for a lower price. However. in some small Chinese stores and tourist places, you are ____________ to bargain. My Chinese friends taught me to ask for 40 percent or 50 percent ____________ the original(原来的）price. If the salesperson doesn’t agree to my price, I should ___________ to leave and he might let me come back and sell me the item. It is a skill that you have to ____________ if you live in China.

Tipping hasn’t been easier to _________. In the USA, many people in the service _________want to get ___________ money for serving customers. Tipping is not a part of Chinese culture. __________ I tried to tip a taxi driver. He looked a little ___________ and refused to take the money. In dinners, perhaps what surprises an American visitor most is that some of the Chinese hosts like to put food into the plates of their ____________. Actually, this is a ____________ of true friendship and politeness. My Chinese friend told me if I didn’t want to eat it, I should just _____________ the food in the plate.

8 . Fujian puppetry(木偶戏) has a thousand-year history. It is one of the _______ of Chinese performing art to the world’s culture and has_________a set of characteristic techniques of performance and puppet making, as well as a repertoire (全部剧目) of plays and music.

No _______ has yet been reached on the_________and development of Chinese puppetry. _______ the Shang dynasty (16th-11th century B.C.), pottery figurines (陶俑) used as burial objects (随葬品) have been discovered at the Yin Ruins. Wooden figurines _______during the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Periods (770-221 B.C.). In a Western Han tomb at Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan province, an army of wooden figurines of singers, dancers and musicians have been discovered. These were a great _______ on those from previous dynasties _______craftsmanship, variety and modeling, which represent the _______Chinese puppets. Over time, figurines as burial objects ________ into puppets for entertainment during holiday__________. ________, just like many other traditional forms of art, Fujian puppetry has fallen out of favour with the younger generations. The number of young people learning puppetry has ________ due to socioeconomic changes ________their lifestyles and the long period of training ________to master the sophisticated (复杂的) performing techniques.

In response, ________ communities, groups and bearers (传授者) worked out the 2008-2020 Strategy for the Training of Coming Generations of Fujian Puppetry Practitioners. The key ________ are to safeguard the spread of Fujian Puppetry and provide professional ________to raise a new generation of puppetry practitioners.

In 2012, the strategy was selected by the UNESCO to be part of the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices. With the wide ________ of practitioners, local people and education institutions, Fujian Puppetry can__________ a brighter future.

9 . The "Double Seven Festival" is a traditional Chinese festival. It has a longer history than the_________ of Valentine's Day in the West.

The origin of this festival is related to a cowboy and a weaving girl, ___________ love story has become a part of the Chinese culture. ___________ there are many different versions of the story,   the most popular one begins with a poor cowboy. Living with his elder and___________ brother, who treated him badly, the cowboy looked after an old cow every day. Though life was tough and boring, he_____________it in silence, without complaining

_____________ , even such a hard life didn't last long. His brother got rid of him and all he got was the old cow. Although they couldn't talk to each other, they___________ on each other for company. One day, miracle happened. The old cow started talking and told him that there would be seven fairies coming down to the Earth to___________in a pond. All he should do was to_________ the dress of one of the fairies. Then that fairy would be his wife.____________ but excited, the cowboy followed the cow's advice.

Every day,   the cowboy went to work____________ the fairy wove cloth at home. However, their ____________ life came to an end when the Heavenly Goddess learned about it. She took the weaving girl away and drew a line in the____________ that turned into the Milky Way, which____________ the cowboy meeting her wife. Due to the strong reaction from the young____________, the Goddess finally allowed them to see each other only once a year. The day was on the____________ day of the seventh month. That is ______________ the Double Seven Festival came into being.

Although the love story doesn't end up with a happy ending, it is to be told from one______________ to another. It reminds people to cherish every moment____________with their loved ones and not to regret until we ______________ them.

10 . I’d never been crazy about Christmas. My husband John and the kids had always done their best to infuse(使充满) me with the holiday ___ , but this Christmas their efforts would be especially ___ .

My salary had reduced and John’s government salary was _______, too. There wasn’t much money to go around, and _______ were just impossible. John was _______ a brave face as usual. But for me our financial hardship brought back ___   memories of my childhood.

“I got a Make and Bake set for Christmas!” one girl shouted. “I got clothes!” another girl said. “What did you get, Lori?” someone asked. “So many presents.” I lied. My parents gave me plenty of love, but love was the ____     thing I had. Mom and Dad always had trouble making ends meet. I’d long since ____   Christmas just wasn’t for me.

John was ______ the tree for just the right branch to ______ the red glass bulb with the “Merry Christmas” writing. It was a precious _______ of his childhood, and he took great pleasure in hanging it on our tree every year. A few days earlier, the tree _______ and several ornaments( 装 饰 物 ) broke, but this one was unique because of the memories it held for him. It was fine if I didn’t have any Christmas spirit, but it was a different ____ for John. He took a step back to admire the replacement I’d finally found after endless searching on foot and surfing the Internet.

I worked hard to make things right for John because I loved to see my Christmas-loving husband full of holiday joy. I _______ one of the tree lights so it shone directly on John’s beloved ornament. The words on it sparkled(闪烁). After all this time, I finally understood its ______ . Christmas was the season to show my love for my family. How could anyone not like Christmas?