Listed as a national­level intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) in 2006, Qinqiang Opera has gradually seen a return     1     popularity in recent years. The revival (复兴) of Qinqiang Opera     2     (attract) more young audience since then.

“Ten years ago, our audience     3     (be) mostly old people. We were afraid we would lose them one day. Now we have lots of young audience members     4     our performances are     5     (warm) welcomed,” said Hou Yan to China Daily.

The number of young     6     (performer) increased as well. The average age of Hou’s opera team is 30. “As we become more confident about our culture, more young people will like     7     (tradition) culture as a fashionable trend and become promoters (推广者) of     8     (they) own culture,” Hou said to China Daily.

The revival of Qinqiang Opera in the past decades has reflected the country’s cultural development,     9     surprises the public. Hou’s attitude to her career has also changed. “As an opera actor, I’m very confident in our culture. I couldn’t imagine it decades ago. So I consider it our duty     10     (make) it well received.”

Paper cutting is a folk culture with so long a history. When Chinese Lunar New Year is coming, it is a custom     1     northern people to paste the papercuts on the window.Gradually, it develops into an art form, one of the     2    (popular) traditional decoration arts.

In early times, people made images of humans and subjects by paper    3    (bury) together with the body in the tomb or to burn on the funerals. With such    4    (symbol) meaning, paper cutting    5    (use) as decorations on sacrificing ceremonies.In 105 AD, Cai Lun improved the paper making technique and a large amount of paper was produced,    6     laid a foundation for the spread of paper cutting.Beautiful patterns were created and gradually, the patterns were     7    (wide) used in other fields later.

There were more records of paper cutting after 960 AD (Song dynasty). Professional paper cutting artists appeared,    8    (specialize) in different patterns. Some were good at cutting flowers     9     others were expert at characters’cutting. Thus, the patterns were abundant and colorful. One of the most important    10    (contribution) of paper cutting in the Song dynasty was that patterns were used on the china.

Yu Rong, a Chinese artist, thinks of a new way to introduce     1     ancient story of Hua Mulan in her picture book. In the book, I Am Hua Mulan, she tells the story by     2     (combine) Chinese paper-cutting with international artistic styles. She places Shaanxi papercuts over western-style pencil sketches (素描)    3     (create) typical presentation of Chineseelements (要素), which turns out to be a     4     (success) and impressive breakthrough.

Hua Mulan,     5     story has been told by generations in China, was a fighter from the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). As a devoted daughter, she dressed herself as a man to serve in the army     6     place of her father. Mulan’s character, such as courage, kindness and a disinterested attitude towards fame and fortune, made     7     (she) one of the most respected historical Chinese heroines. Mulan’s story has been adapted     8     (frequent) in modern media. For example, in 1998, Disney produced a film named Mulan, which     9     (consider) a great success by critics and the public right after its release.

To better tell the story, Yu Rong takes inspiration from her several     10     (visit) to sites of ancient battles and Henan Province’s Yu Opera. After years of preparation she finally makes this extraordinary work.

With the development of economy, how to balance progress and the protection of cultural heritage     1    (be) a big challenge we are facing. Great solutions, however, tend to arise from the challenges.

In the 1950s, in order to control the flooding and to get electricity from the flow of the Nile River, the Egyptian government made    2    proposal to build a new dam across the Nile. It would cause the water levels to rise high enough    3    (flood) a number of ancient temples,    4    were among Egypt’s cultural heritage. So the government turned to the United Nations    5    help.

Soon, an international committee    6    (establish) to help Egypt to find the solution. Finally, they made a decision that all cultural relics should be removed. With the unprecedented (前所未有的), international effort, the government    7    (successful) moved the temples and other cultural sites to a new    8    ( locate ) on higher ground .

The project was considered a greatly successful example by UNESCO to prevent world heritage from       9    (disappear). More importantly, the success shows that if a problem seems too difficult for a single nation, the global community can make a big    10    (different). The fact proves it is possible for countries to work together to build a better future.

Peking Opera was listed into UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity List in 2010. Peking Opera     1     (consider) as a national treasure of China, which dates back to 200 years ago. The late Qing Dynasty saw the great     2     (develop) of this opera. Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty had 22    3     interest in the local opera.     4     (celebrate) his eightieth birthday, he asked opera troupes (演出团)    5     (come) from different places to perform for him in Beijing so the four big Hui Opera troupes entered the capital one after another.     6     (gradual), they combined with other operas, and formed the present Peking Opera.

Peking Opera is a form of traditional Chinese theatre     7     combines music, performance, and dance. Full of Chinese cultural facts, the opera presents the audience     8     an encyclopedia (百科全书) of Chinese culture, as well as unfolding stories, beautiful paintings, wonderful costumes, graceful gestures and martial arts. Besides, the kinds of facial make-up, especially concerning the colour,     9     (be) the most particular art in Peking Opera. There is no doubt     10     it is really the treasure of Chinese culture.

The Duanwu Festival, also     1     (name) the Dragon Boat Festival, was established    2     memory of Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet of the state of Chu during the Warring States period (475—221BC).

Qu Yuan,     3     died by committing suicide in the Miluo River, was known as a great patriot. Shortly after he died, the local people     4     (throw) food into the water to stop the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body. They also sat on long, narrow paddle boats, known as dragon boats, making sound     5     (scare) away the fish.

    6     (tradition) celebrations of the Dragon Boat Festival include eating zongzi, drinking realgar (雄黄) wine, and     7     (race) dragon boats.

You don’t have to live in China long to know that     8     country’s most popular foods usually have a good story behind them. That’s     9     (particular) true of festival foods such as zongzi, the pyramid-shaped steamed rice packages in bamboo or reed leaves that have been associated with the Dragon Boat Festival for more than a thousand     10     (year).

Paddington (帕丁熊) is one of the most famous    1    (bear) in the world. He first came onto the British scene in 1958 in a children’s book A Bear Called Paddington    2     was written by British writer Michael Bond. In the story, Paddington is kind and humorous. He is also polite and always calls people “Mr”, “Mrs” and “Miss”, rarely using    3    (they)first names.

Such a cute bear caught people’s hearts    4    (immediate). He first came out on TV in 1975. He’s also been made into toys with different costumes. Many children would have a Paddington bear toy    5    their first gift.

Paddington is so loved that it’s common    6    (find) plates and tea towels with Paddington patterns in British homes. He has a special facial expression. He is    7    (know) for giving a hard stare whenever he meets somebody he doesn’t like. Therefore, when someone    8    (give) a hard stare, you could say that they are making a “Paddington Bear face”.

Today, this classic children’s character has grown into an    9    (importance) part of British culture.     10    you want a taste of British culture, Paddington’s stories are a great way.