1 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。请在答题卡指定区域作答。

Black Friday marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the United States. It     1    (fall) on the last Friday in November. On Black Friday, stores open early and offer big sales. The most popular products are electronics because they are much cheaper than usual. For people     2     don’t want to line up outside the stores, online shopping is also a good choice. Most sellers post their ads (广告) in advance in order     3    (get) more customers, while some     4    (company) will wait until the last possible moment to create a big surprise.

I attended the Naadam Festival in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region this year. The festival,     1     includes horse racing, wrestling and archery, falls on the     2     (four) day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, usually     3     (last) for three days.

I went to the games early with my friend   and found that many people     4     (make) preparations for the events. I was told that the festival had been popular with Mongolians for     5     (century). After the opening ceremony, the wrestling competition began,     6     (follow) by the archery and my favourite horse races.     7     my surprise, the riders were all children and I was concerned about their     8     (safe). My friend told me not     9     (worry) as they had been riding horses all their lives. Then I began to understand what “Horses are at the heart of Mongolian culture” meant.

Having been back home, I felt really tired,     10    it was worthwhile to celebrate the festival with my friend.

An exhibition titled Symbiosis of the Chinese Zodiac (生肖) opened at the Tocumen International Airport in Panama on Dec 19 and would run until Jan 20.

Sally Huang,     1     Chinese Panamanian artist and a doctor of art from Beijing Normal University, presented thirteen paintings,     2     combined the freehand brushstrokes of traditional Chinese paintings with the beautiful colors of Latin America, and presented the zodiac animals. Also there were some sculptures (雕刻品) of zodiac animals     3     display, which were created by Chinese artist Zhang Yong, graduating from the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

The exhibition     4     (include) in the project Painting Our Canals (运河), which was sponsored by the Beijing Culture and Arts Fund this year. The Beijing Culture and Arts Fund is a nonprofit fund     5     (found) by the Beijing Bureau of Culture and Tourism to provide support in the three major fields of stage art, cultural exchange     6     the cultivation (培养) of art talents.

The lead institution applying for the project was Beijing Normal University,     7    (feature) a series of events themed on the canal culture in both China and Panama, also inviting artists from both countries     8     (attend) the exhibition as well as hosting academic forums.

The opening ceremony was joined by representatives from both countries, such as the Chinese ambassador to Panama and the vice-minister of culture in Panama.

The ambassador expressed some     9     (message) congratulating the artists in his speech, while emphasizing that China and Panama should work together to promote     10     (globe) peace and development.

Dunhuang, located in Northwest China’s Gansu province, was     1     important stop on the ancient Silk Road with a long history. What does it look like today?

From Dec.5 to 8 in 2023, the show titled “The Dunhuang You Don’t Know”,     2    (release)on social media platforms including Weibo and Douyin. Since     3    (it) first public performance, the video series has got millions of views online.

The show, produced by the art program center of the China Media Group, focused on the modern way of life in Dunhuang,     4    (display) the inheritance(继承) and development of traditional Chinese culture. The program referred to eight dimensions, including local cuisine, folk tradition and guochao,     5     means “native wave”, and the use of traditional Chinese elements in fashion. One episode (集) guided viewers through the Mogao Grottoes and related exhibitions, providing insights     6     the historical and cultural significance behind the cave paintings. In another episode, the audience were taken to the night market     7     (taste) local food such as iron plate fish and hand-grabbed lamb.

In recent years, with a rise in the     8    (popular) of guochao, modern artists     9    (transform) age-old art into creative cultural products that appeal to young consumers. This video series has also caught people ‘s attention through trendy and     10     (fashion) collection.

Over the 5,000 years of Chinese history, the Chinese dragon used to be a totem (图腾) . Gradually, it has evolved into an image    1     (represent) the spirit of the Chinese nation. According to reports, long was first translated to “dragon”    2     The Travel of Marco Polo. And in China’s Qing Dynasty, westerners translated long as “draco”,       3    is Latin for “dragon”.

Legend goes that the Chinese dragon can fly and has the magical power to control wind and rain, so can spurt   (喷出) water from its mouth     4     (ensure) a good harvest with timely rainfall. To show their supreme power and dignity, emperors in ancient China always    5     (regard) themselves as “true dragons”.

Across    6    land of China, ordinary people worship the dragon, whose images and names can be found in architectural structures or    7     (decorate) , such as the Nine-dragon Wall and the Dragon Boat. There are many idioms     8     (relate)   to the Chinese dragon, such as Hua Long Dian Jing, meaning “Painting the dragon to life”

Of all the 12 Chinese zodiac animals (生肖动物) ,the dragon is one of people’s favorites. When people name newborn babies, long is a    9     (frequent) selected character, especially for boys born in the Year of the Dragon, as it is hoped    10    they will grow as strong and energetic as a dragon.

The Spring Festival, also known     1     Chinese New Year, is the most important festival in China. It falls on the first day of the first lunar (农历的) month. During the festival, Chinese people have various     2     (activity). They put up Spring Festival couplets (春联) and paper cut decorations on the windows,     3     (greet) the new year and saying goodbye to the old . It is a good time for people     4     (visit) relatives and friends and have family reunion. Children like the festival very much, because they can have delicious food, wear new clothes and get red pockets from     5     (they) parents and relatives

More importantly, the Spring Festival     6     (observe) not only in China but also in other parts of the world. It has become a key time for Chinese people     7     live in the US and the UK. Every new year, they join in a large evening party to welcome the     8     (tradition) new year. Across Australia, the Chinese New Year will be welcomed with three weeks of celebrations. Thousands of people come to Sydney’s Chinatown to enjoy fireworks (烟火), dragon dances.     9     lion dances. The family dinner on New Year’s Eve is     10     important tradition for Chinese whether they were born in Singapore or moved there from China.

Heatable Brick Beds Warm NE China Homes

In northeast China’s chilly winter, getting into a warm bed is made possible by an ancient heatable brick bed that could date back more than two thousand years     1     is still widely used today. These beds not only bring warmth to local residents, but also continue the folk culture of northeast China.

The bed is made of bricks or other forms of fired clay with     2    width of about1.7 m to 2.3 m and a length that can be determined according to the length of the bedroom. It uses a ducted heating system similar to the Roman hypocaust,     3    (compose) of a stove, a bed and a chimney. The stove     4    (use) to burn firewood. Smoke and heat generated by burning firewood pass through an internal hollow and curved flue system to heat the bed above. Smoke is eventually discharged outward through the chimney. The bed retains heat well,     5    enables people     6    (have) a comfortable sleeping environment in the cold winter. In addition,     7    (sleep) on the heatable brick bed for a prolonged period is good for the blood     8    (circulate) and metabolism of the body, and can relieve some diseases such as arthritis and waist and leg pain.

The heatable brick bed is not only used as a bed, but also a living area for the family. People     9    (routine) have their meals and family     10    (gathering) on the bed in cold winters. The bed is a symbol of home that embodies the emotion and love they feel towards their families.

The xiao, a traditional bamboo instrument, is now attracting more and more attention with     1     (it) long history and rich cultural meanings. In ancient China, bamboo was a symbol of honesty, and a spirit of trying to make progress. So, many used it to refer     2     their pursuits (追求) in poems. For example, the poet Su Shi once wrote, “Better to eat without meat than live without bamboo”, suggesting the     3     (important) of bamboo. Therefore, the xiao,     4     (make) of bamboo, was not just     5     instrument, but something the ancient literati (文人) often held in hands or put on walls to remind themselves of their pursuits.

“From the Tang Dynasty on, usually the xiao was used for the purpose of     6     (gather) the educated. It was so popular,” says Shen, a xiao player. “The instrument     7     (keep) its unique attractiveness, which paved its way     8     (become) alive again. It produces pleasant music,     9     agrees with the traditional Chinese sense of beauty — the greatest music has the faintest notes.”

In Shen’s view, compared with others, the xiao is an     10     (extreme) simple instrument.

Since it is so simple that you can hardly make any changes on it, you can only change yourself to make your music performance better and better.

The time-consuming process of carving a stone, while keeping its natural and unique beauty, can be compared     1     an education that helps each individual pupil achieve their full potential. As the place     2     the “four treasures of the study”, namely — the brush, ink stick, paper and ink stone — originated, Anhui has had a tradition of pushing education to the forefront since ancient times.

The ink stones     3    (produce) in Anhui’s Shexian county are well-known for their ability to keep the ink wet for a long time and their     4    (amazing) detailed patterns. Making a quality ink stone requires close attention to detail, great skill and passion for traditional culture. These are all characteristics that Hu Qiusheng,     5     ink stone carver and engraver (雕刻师) in Shexian,     6    (pursue) and passed down in his family all the time.

    7     four decades of handwork has deformed (变形) his fingers, Hu has won many awards in the field of crafts and fine arts. His own company, one of the country’s     8    (lead) ink stone producers, has also sponsored     9     (competition) that encourage younger generations of ink stone makers     10     (display) their skills and further develop the craft.