World Olive (橄榄) Tree Day takes place     1     26th November every year. It was established     2     (official) at the 40th session of the UNESCO General Conference in 2019.The olive tree, especially the olive branch, holds an important place in people’s mind. Since ancient times, it     3     (symbolize) peace, harmony and     4     (wise) .It is important not just to the countries     5     these noble trees grow but also to people and communities worldwide.

Protecting and growing the olive tree is     6     increasingly urgent thing as the world fights against climate change. The conservation of cultural and natural heritage is one of UNESco’s     7     (center) goals, and marking World Olive Tree Day strengthens the efforts to achieve it.

World Olive Tree Day is set up     8     (encourage) the protection of the olive tree and stress the values it symbolizes,     9     (inspire) people to appreciate its important social, cultural, economic and environmental significance to humans.

There is much to learn, share and celebrate on World Olive Tree Day, and UNESCO encourages everyone to participate in     10     (activity) such as debates, conferences, cultural events and exhibitions organized worldwide.

The Chinese couplet (对联) refers to two poetic lines obeying certain rules, often written on red paper for     1     (appreciate).

As a form of Chinese literature, the couplet     2     (vary) in content and style. Some express people’s love to their motherland, some describe the beauty of nature,     3     some convey best wishes for the coming year.

Chinese couplets originated in the Five Dynasties, and     4     (become) ubiquitous (无处不在) in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was a custom for people     5     (hang) peach wood charms to drive away evil spirits during the Spring Festival. Nowadays, couplets are used     6     a similar way.

It was said that the     7     (early) couplet was written by Meng Xu, king of Houshu State and it was     8     (extreme) popular in the Northern Song Dynasty. Since the Ming Dynasty, to write couplets     9     (regard) as a mark of the cultured life of scholars.

The couplet has two equal-length lines. However,     10       number of characters in each line can be from four to seven or more. The first and the second lines have opposite tone patterns. The last character of the first line is of an oblique tone (仄声), and its opposite in the second line, of a level tone (平声).

Cold Dew, the 17th solar term of the year, begins this year on Oct 8 and ends on Oct 22. At this time, there are some interesting     1     (phenomenon) you need to know.

Not only     2     temperatures drop significantly, but also rainfall is reduced. When the cold air encounters autumn rain, it turns into misty rain or fog. When the humidity is high,     3     (fog) regions form in many areas of China.

People always say that fishing in shallow water in autumn makes sense. That’s     4     temperatures decrease quickly and sunshine doesn’t reach deep water thoroughly. Fish swim to shallow water areas     5     the water temperature is     6     (relative) high.

Pomegranates (石榴) are ripe during Cold Dew, releasing a sweet scent. With their exquisite beauty, flavor and color, pomegranates never fail to attract people and     7     (cherish) for centuries also for their health benefits and anti-aging benefits.

Chrysanthemum (菊花) is the iconic flower of Cold Dew.     8     (prevent) autumn dryness, many regions in China have the custom of drinking chrysanthemum wine, which is thought to boost heart health by strengthening blood vessels and     9     (stimulate) blood flow.

During Cold Dew, North China takes on a look of late autumn with white clouds, red leaves and early frost. People often climb hills with cornels (茱萸)    10     the day of the Double Ninth Festival, aiming to dispel evils.

The Analects of Confucius (《论语》) records the words and deeds of the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius,     1     (write) somewhere between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period more than 2,000 years ago. It     2     (highlight) the political and moral ideas of Confucius and Confucianism.

Ren is a core concept in the book adopted by Confucius with original meaning of loving others.     3     (represent) a high moral standard, it includes all virtues. Confucius stresses that self-discipline is     4     must for practicing the rules of propriety (礼) and achieving ren.

Society has developed greatly and huge changes     5     (occur) as well after the birth of the Analects of Confucius. Nevertheless, it contains lots of ideas beyond the passage of time, some of     6     are still relevant today. For example, Confucius analyzes the relationship between learning and thinking by saying that learning without thinking leads to confusion while thinking without learning ends in puzzlement. Besides, the Analects of Confucius also     7     (vivid) shows the images of Confucius’s students. Zi Lu is straightforward, Zi Gong is smart, and Yan Hui is mild and capable. Confucius insists on treating students     8     individuals to achieve full potential, which is     9     (consist)with some of the modern educational thoughts.

The Analects of Confucius is a fine example of world literature, and the publication of its     10     (version) in various languages will further enhance cultural exchanges between China and the world.

Many people around the world may know that paper is one of the Four Great Inventions of ancient Chinese civilization,    1    few would know that more than 1,500 years ago, ancient Chinese craftsmen invented a new type of paper,    2    was called Xuan paper and used mainly for writing and painting.

Xuan paper was first made in ancient Xuan Prefecture, now    3    (know) as Jingxian County in Anhui Province. The traditional process of making Xuan paper is    4     (extreme) demanding and involves over 100 steps. The whole process can take as long as two years    5    (complete), and the skills have been passed down for    6    (generation).

Xuan paper is highly water absorbent, making it a perfect medium for conveying artistic effect in both Chinese calligraphy and ink wash painting. In addition, Xuan paper    7    (design) to be able to last for more than 1,000 years and still keep the freshness of the ink and color on it.

Today in Jingxian County, there    8     (be) many Xuan paper factories and workshops, where the paper is still made by master craftsmen using traditional techniques. And because of    9    (it) long history and the essential role it has played     10    the culture of Chinese painting and calligraphy, Xuan paper was included on the first list of China’s national intangible cultural heritages(非物质文化遗产)in 2006.

The Han Dynasty was one of the heydays in ancient China. Han has a history     1    (date) back thousands of years and the traditional clothing of the Han people is called Hanfu,     2     charm has also flourished for centuries.

Hanfu is     3     important carrier of Chinese civilization, with etiquette (礼仪) as its core. Hanfu not only embodies the Chinese aesthetic taste,     4     reflects a unique meaning in etiquette, religion and culture. As long as people put on Hanfu, they should behave in accordance with     5     the “etiquette” system requires.

Hanfu is composed of yi, chang, headgear, hairstyle, shoes, etc. There are two types of “yi”.     6     is the kind with the separation of the upper and the lower garments, while the other is the one-piece kind that unites the upper and the lower garments together. The decoration on the garments represents the faith and customs in the Han culture. The Yin-Yang and all the subjects on earth     7    (picture) on Hanfu profoundly reflect the Chinese ancients’ understanding of the universe and nature.

In recent years,     8     people’s enthusiasm for traditional culture growing, wearing Hanfu in a trip or in a party     9    (become) a new trend among young people. The revival of Hanfu is a new exploration of the beauty of Chinese clothing by contemporary people, and also represents the new     10    (recognize) of the value of traditional culture by the younger generation.

There is a Chinese story of an old man in his 90s working with his family to remove mountains to connect the outside world     1     others’ doubts. The story has inspired the Chinese to unite and overcome difficulty with     2     (determine) and hard work.

The story became a reality in Lin County, Henan Province in the 1960s. A 1,500-kilometer-long waterway along the cliffs (悬崖) of the Taihang Mountains     3     (build) by the local people within 10 years, bringing precious water from the Zhanghe River in the bordering Shanxi Province to the drought-hit area.

Initially, finding drinking water was     4     headache for residents: People had to fetch water from five kilometers away every day.     5     (ease) this area’s water shortages, the local government decided to construct a canal across the mountains,    6    construction was a remarkable engineering achievement.

People tied ropes around their waists and     7     (hang) off cliffs, drilling holes in rock, and then dug canals with simple tools. From February 1960 to July 1969, they leveled 1,250 mountain tops and dug 211 tunnels (隧道),    8     (remove) 22.25 million cubic meters of earth and rocks.

Their efforts gained multiple     9     (benefit). It was the canal that     10       (dramatic) changed the life of the local people, irrigating (灌溉) 36,000 hectares of land and solving water supply difficulties to some 567,000 people. Their deeds have been hailed (称颂) as the “spirit of the Red Flag Canal.”

The “24 solar terms” are a vital part of the Chinese calendar, which has     1     (it) origin with the ancient Yellow River basin. The Chinese calendar     2     (include) “24 solar terms”provides detailed guidelines and timetable for agricultural     3     (activity).

A complete set of “24 solar terms” first     4     (appear) in an ancient book The Huainanzi in early Han Dynasty. These 24 solar terms were soon absorbed into The Taichu calendar, the first well documented calendar in     5     history of China.

The Chinese Agriculture Calendar is     6     (actual) a combination of the lunar and solar calendar systems. There     7     (be) 365. 2422 days in one “sidereal year” while 12 lunar months add up to 354 days. To make both the lunar calendar     8     the solar calendar agree, a leap lunar month needs to be added every 2 to 3 years. Since the early Han Dynasty, a lunar month without a major solar term     9     (adopt) as a leap month (闰月) .

With more far-reaching cultural exchanges, the “24 solar terms” have been known     10     people in other parts of the world and were added to the “UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage” list in 2016.

With roots     1     (date) back thousands of years, Chinese seals (印章) are more than just a unique image; they are symbolic of identity, status, and culture. A Chinese seal is a seal or stamp used to mark important documents, pieces of art, contracts, or any other item that     2    (require) a signature.

The seal was first created in 221 BC. The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, ordered his first imperial (皇帝的) seal to be carved using beautiful white jade (玉).     3     (call) the“Xi”, the imperial seal was only used by those in power. It wasn’t until the Ming and Qing dynasties     4     the seal’s usage moved from the imperial to the personal, due to the     5     (expand) of arts. Artists began using a stylized seal carving of their names to mark ownership of their works.     6     (individual) also began using a personalized stamp for important documents. These non-official stamps were called “Yin”.

    7    (typical), the seals are carved into stone, but they can also     8     (make) of wood, bamboo, or bone. Seals are carved in one of two ways: the material is carved away from the character, leaving a red ink outline when used on paper,     9     the character is carved into the material, leaving the character     10    white among a red background.