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.

Bing Dwen Dwen, a panda in an ice shell    1    (choose) as the official mascot for the Beijing2022 Winter Games back in 2019.

According to Cao Xue, the chief designer of Bing Dwen Dwen, the idea first came from a traditional Chinese snack bingtanghulu — fruit    2    (coat) in syrup (糖浆), which turned into the ice shell in his design. Later, Cao’s team decided to incorporate (结合) an animal or plant, finally    3    (settle) on a panda. “What else can    4    (well) represent China than our national treasure? ” said Cao. “We don’t need to explain anything to have it understood across different cultures.”    5    , there were already too many cartoon    6    (image) of pandas out there so the mascot needed to be    7    (total) unique and innovative. They visited Wolong Sichuan, to look for    8    (inspire). Cao then decided that it should be a baby panda    9    determined the body proportions (比例) of Bing Dwen Dwen — its body is of the same length    10    its head.

Language is the best approach to    1    ( understand) a country. We know that language is a bridge for people to communicate. Chinese is one of the most beautiful languages in the world as well as    2    most-spoken one.

The beauty of Chinese language lies in its form, structure and rhythm. Every sound, stroke, word and sentence have their own stories. In the process of learning Chinese，I hope you will learn to appreciate the Chinese language and its profound cultural heritage. Some foreign friends say that Chinese is difficult    3    ( learn). It shows that those who learn Chinese have great courage and    4    ( wise).

Only after learning Chinese will you know the meaning    5    ( contain) in the Chinese characters. For example, the Chinese character “人”which means “people” consists    6     two supporting strokes, showing people need to support each other. The Chinese character “大”which means “big or great” is like the Chinese character“人”opening arms. This means people opening arms are of great vision. The Chinese character“天”is like “人”standing against the sky. That’s the reason    7    it has the meaning of “sky”. The Chinese character“信”means “trust”. Its left side is “人” and the right side “言” which means “words”. When the two parts    8    ( put) together, it means people keeping their words win trust. You can understand the philosophy at first glance.

There are many    9    ( example) like this. There is no other language in the world that can create so much beauty with just two thousand    10    ( common) used characters. When you try to learn Chinese，you will feel China, understand China better, and even fall in love with China.

Gestures can     1     (use) to express people’s thoughts and opinions in their interactions     2     other people, but in different countries the same gesture may have different meanings. For example, in some countries, looking into the eyes of the person you are talking to     3     (be) a way to display interest, but in many Middle Eastern countries men and women should avoid     4     (make) eye contact. In most countries,     5     (shake) one’s head means “no”, and nodding means “yes”. By     6     (compare), in Bulgaria and southern Albania, the gestures have the opposite meaning. In countries     7     France and Russia, people may kiss their friends on     8     cheek when they meet. Elsewhere, people favour shaking hands, bowing from the waist, or nodding the head when they meet someone else.

All in all, body language     9     (vary) from culture to culture, but it is safe     10     (follow) the golden rule— When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Wood carving is a branch of carving. It is one of traditional Chinese art forms with a time-honored history. It originated in the Neolithic Period, and the     1    (begin) of the wood carving accompanied people’s everyday life demands. Later, when people had       2     ability to use their imagination to express ideas, it became a kind of art. The earliest existing wood carving       3    (dig) out in the 1980s in Hubei Province, which is believed     4    (have) a history of over two thousand years. Generally, Chinese wood carving in ancient times       5    (consist) of three major categories: architecture carving, furniture carving and artworks carving.

Wood carving serves practical purposes and at the same time is     6     decorative value. Chairs, tables, shelves, animals, flowers and human figures     7    (carve) out of wood are common examples of this form of art. In a poem by Han Yu,     8     was an outstanding poet of the Tang Dynasty, he described a wood-carving figure vividly.

Chinese wood carving is appreciated worldwide for its structures being     9    (true) detailed and the beauty of its themes. Today, many     10    (impress) wood carvings can be seen in private galleries and also on the decorations over residential areas on both sides of the Yangtze River.