Chinese Spring Festival is the first day of the Chinese lunar calendar. With the Spring Festival     1     (approach), people are busy purchasing goods, cleaning the houses and cooking traditional food. Some families decorate their windows     2     paper-cuts, putting up New Year pictures and couplets. It is an occasion     3     the whole family gather to enjoy quality family time. During the Spring Festival holidays, all kinds of     4     (celebrate) are held, including temple fairs, performances, and lantern exhibitions,     5     last nearly half a month.

Liu Ruying,     1     grandfather is a huge fan of Peking Opera, has been interested in Peking Opera for much of her young life. Her grandfather is a great influence     2     her. At the age of 8, she     3    (begin) to practice the classic art. It wasn’t easy for a little girl     4    (experience) the difficult training, as performances combine martial arts, dancing and acrobatics(杂技).

“Sometimes I was tired,“ she said. ”I had to balance my studies and other     5    (course) I was interested in, such as dance. But the great charm(魅力) of Peking Opera made me always practice it.”

When Liu got the news that her region would have a cultural exchange with other countries, she had the idea of     6    (introduce) Peking Opera to the world in English. With     7     help of her mother, she took part in the activity after several months of practice.

“I     8    (extreme) love traditional Chinese culture,” she said. “Peking Opera has a long history of about 200 years and     9    (consider) a treasure of our nation. We should let     10    (we) make great efforts to carry forward our culture and protect the cultural diversity of the world.”

Xiangsheng, sometimes translated as crosstalk, is a traditional Chinese comedic performance. It is one of China’s most important and most popular performing     1     (art), and is typically performed in Beijing local language.

The term Xiangsheng originally     2     (refer) to the act of copying someone’s speech and actions. It rose     3     a performing act during the Ming Dynasty. From Qing Dynasty to the 1920s, Xiangsheng     4     (steady) developed to become a style of personal comedic performance. Later Xiangsheng came to be performed as a dialog and sometimes even in groups of three or more. The earliest Xiangsheng comedian     5     (know) by name is Zhang Sanlu,     6     performed in the mid-nineteenth century.

Since the widespread use of Mandarin(普通话) from 1949, the popularity of Xiangsheng     7     (increase) throughout the People’s Republic of China. It is     8     standard characteristic of annual CCTV New Year’s Gala and other performing art shows in China.

    9     (appeal) to younger audiences, cartoon makers have created cartoon versions of     10     (variety) humorous Xiangsheng performances using sound recording from past broadcasts.

The Chinese people are without doubt the ones who best understand the nature of tea. We attach great importance     1     tea in Chinese culture.

While records of tea in Chinese literature go back to about 5,000 years ago, the beginning of tea’s use as     2     kind of drink is unclear. At first, tea was valued for its medical qualities. It has long been known that tea helps digestion (消化),     3     is why many Chinese would like     4     (drink) it after their meal. The rising of tea drinking to an art form     5     (begin) in the 8th century, with the publication of Lu Yu’s The Classic of Tea. His work contained several useful tips for     6     (produce) tea, many of which are still in use today. In the centuries following the publication of Lu Yu’s work, tea’s popularity spread     7     (rapid) throughout China.

Not only did tea drinking become a fitting subject for books and poems, but the rich presented tea as     8     (gift) to friends and guests. Later, teahouses started to spread all over the country. While the Chinese have never developed an     9     (office) ceremony (礼仪) surrounding tea drinking like the Japanese tea ceremony, they have respect for     10     (it) role in their daily lives.

It is a big challenge    1    (find) and keep the right balance between progress and the protection of cultural sites. However, big challenges can sometimes lead to great solutions. When the Egyptian government suggested    2    (build) the Aswan Dam, they were faced with various problems,     3    (include) destroying an important part of Egypt’s cultural heritage. As a result, the government turned     4    the United Nations in 1959. A committee    5    (establish) to limit damage to the Egyptian buildings and prevent the    6    (lose) of cultural relics. Finally, a document was signed and the work began in 1960. Temples and other cultural sites were taken down piece by piece, and then moved and put back together in a safe place. Eventually, the project was completed    7     (succeed)．

Not only     8     the countries found a path to the future     9    did not run over the relics of the past, but they had also learnt that it was possible for countries to work together to build a better tomorrow. Therefore, if a problem seems too difficult for a single nation, the     10    (globe) community can sometimes provide a solution.

A few weeks ago, a friend and I, both traveling in the south of France,     1     (decide) to go to the chocolate festival,     2     (call) “Feria du Chocolat” in French. I had     3     wonderful time.

There were stalls (货摊) selling boxes of chocolates, sweets, dessert wines, etc. All the stall owners were very friendly and happy to see the     4     (arrive) of foreigners like us. They explained their methods of     5     (make) chocolate, showed us photos of their factories, and, of course, let us try their products! My friend bought some chocolate cups,     6     I think is a great novelty (新鲜事物) — you drink your drink, and then you can eat the chocolate cup!

We then went to a masterclass where we learnt how to make chocolate. I was a little     7     (worry) before the masterclass, as there were only 12 people in a class, and I wasn’t sure if my French would be good enough     8     (understand) everything! Luckily, everyone was     9     (extreme) friendly — the lady next     10     me was making notes of everything we did, so she explained when I didn’t understand. At the end, our class stayed in the room and chatted about how much we were enjoying the day and eating lots of chocolate!