I’m not Chinese, but I love Chinese New Year. There are many fun New Year     1     (celebrate), but nothing quite matches the excitement of the lion dance which can wake up the spirit     2     (complete).

The sound of the drums,       3     you can feel throughout your entire body, is quite inspiring. The two performers are very flexible. But it is actually very difficult as the lion head is very heavy and being the     4     (low)part of the lion is tiring as he has to bend his back and also carry     5     person in front sometimes. The lion head is made with paper over a bamboo frame,       6     (cover)in gauze (纱布), and decorated with beautifully-colored materials.

The lion dance     7     (believe)to have first appeared in the Qianlong Emperor's dream during his Southern tour, and he ordered an animal     8     (make)in the likeness of his description and used in festivals from then on.

I love all about the lion dance. The other day, I saw a film about a left-behind teenager who insisted on pursuing his dreams despite difficulties and     9     (succeed)in lion dance. As Master Xu translates: “Heaven has made us talents; we’re not made     10     vain.”

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.

All around the world, families celebrate special days together. Traditions for these days     1    (be) very different. Some of them may surprise you.

Families in most countries have a special day to celebrate mothers. In Serbia, this day is on     2     second Sunday before Christmas. On that day, children sneak（溜）into their     3    (mother) bedroom and tie her feet with ribbon（丝带）so that she can’t get out of bed. Then they shout, “Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day! What will you pay     4    (get) away?” Then the mother gives them small     5    (treat) and presents as payment so that the kids “free” her.

In China, they say that babies are one year old when they are born. After that, all children celebrate their birthday on New Year’s Day because that’s when they grow a year     6    (old). Actual birthdays     7    (celebrate) with a big family meal. The tradition is that the “birthday boy” or “birthday girl” should fill their mouth     8     as many long noodles as they can     9     then eat them. This is     10     in Chinese culture, long noodles are a symbol that people will live long.

In recent years, there     1     (be) more and more Confucius Institutes being built all over the world,     2     shows our Chinese culture has become     3     (popular) than ever.     4     one of the four ancient civilizations, China creates many splendid cultures within its long history. The ancient Chinese culture once     5     (have) great influences on the world's civilization, especially in Japan, South Korea and other Asian countries. Specially, traditional Chinese painting, poem, opera, cooking, clothing, architecture and many other kinds of cultural forms make up the splendid Chinese culture. The kinds     6     (list) above are the typical ones which connect to each other at the same time. For example, painting, clothing and architecture has many things in common. And each kind of cultural form contains numerous     7     (intend). The Chinese culture is slowly accumulated in the whole history,     8     (make) it colorful and brilliant. If one wants to know or study Chinese culture deeply, he or she must spend much time in it,     9     he or she can only get tip of     10     iceberg.