The Lantern Festival, a significant festival in China, falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month.

One of this day’s important activities is watching lanterns. During the Han Dynasty, one emperor gave the order    1    (light) lanterns to show respect for Buddha on this day. Later, it     2    (develop) into a grand festival among the common people. Today, the Lantern Festival    3    (observe) each year around the country. Various lanterns are hung in the streets. Children hold lanterns to stroll(闲逛) along the streets,    4    (extreme) excited.

Guessing lantern riddles is     5    important part of the festival. Whoever has right solutions will get a little gift. As riddle guessing is interesting and full     6    wisdom, it has become popular.

People eat yuanxiao on this day. Yuanxiao has another name, tangyuan,     7    in Chinese has a similar pronunciation with tuanyuan     8    (mean) reunion.

In the daytime of the festival, some     9    (performance) such as the dragon dance and the lion dance are staged. In the night, people become really     10    (joy) at lanterns of various shapes and sizes and the bright moon in the sky.

The first UN Chinese Language Day at the United Nations     1     (observe) on Friday at UN Headquarters in New York in 2010.     2     the world’s most widely spoken language, it seems appropriate that Mandarin (普通话) has one day every year dedicated (把……专用于)to it. This     3     (official) marked day of Mandarin language celebration was set by the United Nations as a way of     4     (celebrate) the language’s history and contributions to the world.     5     is hoped that having one day every year to celebrate Mandarin will encourage more people around the world to take it up.With China likely to become the     6     (large) economy in the world, it is important that the wider world becomes interestingly more perfect in this wonderful language. Every year UN Chinese Language Day     7     (fall) on April 20. A great way     8     (get) involved in the celebration is to join a Mandarin class or attend one of the Confucius Institutes (孔子学院)     9     are set up by China in countries around the world.The number of people learning Chinese is on     10     increase in China’s neighboring countries, such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

Why was the ox chosen to be one of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs?

Centuries ago, most people     1     (earn) their living by farming. The ox was used to help plough fields and carry heavy goods.

The ox has long had a significant place in Chinese culture. Ancient Chinese poets and     2     (writer) frequently described the ox in literature. In The book of Songs, the     3     (old) existing collection of Chinese poetry, the animal was mentioned several times in the 305 pieces. The ox     4     (consider) a symbol of diligence (勤奋) and earnestness in Chinese culture. To this day, the phrase “the spirit of the ox” still refers     5     conquering anything that may present itself as a challenge. The spirit is     6     (high) praised and many people follow it as their work rule. When someone makes a great achievement through hard work, people often use “niu”, meaning “awesome”,     7     (describe) him or her.

Oxen seldom bully the weak or fear the strong. They work hard and make sacrifices (牺牲). This is reflected in Lu Xun’s poem In Mockery of Myself,     8     praises the ox’s attitude of     9     (serve) without complaining.

So naturally, those who were born in the year of the ox are often expected to be hard-working, reliable     10     loyal.

In the course of economic development, there comes a time     1     the old must give way to the new.     2    (keep) the right balance between progress and the protection of cultural sites can be a great challenge. In the 1950s, the Egyptian government wanted     3    (build) a dam. However, the project led     4     protests, because the water from the dam might damage some cultural relics. So the government asked the United Nations a favour. A committee     5    (establish) to deal with the challenge and the experts investigated the issue, conducted tests and made a     6    (propose) to save the cultural relics.     7    (final), the work began in 1960. The temples and other cultural sites were taken down piece by piece and then moved and put back together again in a new place. Over the next 20 years,     8    (thousand) of engineers and workers rescued     9    (count) cultural relics. In 1980, the project ended, and it was considered     10     great success. It shows that if one country is in trouble, the global community may help it out.

Big challenges can sometimes lead to great solutions. In the 1950s, the Egyptian government hoped     1     (attempt) a new dam across the Nile to control floods, produce electricity and supply water to more farmers in the area. However, the proposal led to protests.     2     (protester) said that lots of temples and cultural relics would likely be damaged. To solve this problem, the government turned to the United Nations for help in 1959. Soon a committee     3     (establish) to limit damage to the Egyptian buildings and prevent the     4     (lose) of cultural relics. After several investigations and tests, a proposal for how to save the buildings was made.

In 1960, the work began. A year later, the first temple was moved by German engineers. Over the next 20 years, thousands of engineers and workers rescued 22 temples and     5     (count) cultural relics. Fifty countries donated nearly $80 million     6     the project.

The Aswan Dam project,     7     ended in 1980, was considered     8     great success. Not only had the countries found a path to the future without     9     (damage) the old relics, but they had also learnt that     10     was possible for countries to work together to build a better tomorrow.

China is a big old country,     1     has a history of more than five thousand years. We are proud of     2     (it) culture and part of the culture even influences the world     3     (great), for example, the thought of Confucius. As Chinese economy develops very fast and plays     4     important role in the world, more and more     5     (foreign) learn Mandarin (普通话) in Confucius institutions. The Chinese traditional culture can be tested by the time. It unites the whole nation and no matter     6     kind of disaster comes, we will fight together for the country's future. Today, many young people lose faith in     7     (tradition) culture and they are crazy about the western culture. They follow the western fashion,       8     (think) we are the old style. But some day, they     9     (realize) it is wrong     10     (abandon) traditional culture.

Spring Festival, also    1     (call) Chinese New Year, is one of the traditional festivals in China. It has    2     long history and is very     3    (importance) for Chinese people. The coming of Spring Festival means the old year comes to an end and the new year begins. Before Spring Festival, people clean    4       (they) houses and decorate doors and windows with paper-cuts.     5     New Year's Eve, family members get together and have a big dinner to celebrate the festival by    6     （eat） dumplings.

Not only adults like Spring festival     7     also children like it very much. Because on that day, children can wear new clothes and watch dragon and lion dances on the street. More importantly, they can    8    （give） lucky money by grandparents, parents and other relatives. Besides these traditional       9       （active）, people in recent years have preferred to travel around during the seven-day holiday,     10     may bring more fun to the whole family.

For you, the “Clear and Bright” day that falls in every April might be no more than just another holiday — the fact that it comes with three days off school matters to most students much more     1     the fact that it is part of the 24 solar terms.

But the UNESCO has recognized the importance of the 24 solar terms. This ancient system that Chinese people have used to keep track of the time of year     2     (add) to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on Nov. 30.

For starters, you may have heard your mom say: “The dog days are almost over. The heat won’t be here for long.” The dog days are a period of time that     3     (fall) in summer, somewhere     4     Slight Heat (in July) and the Limit of Heat (in August). The coldest days—the sanjiu days, are similar. They cover the 27 days     5     (follow) Winter Solstice.

In some places, solar terms guide people’s lives through special foods,     6     (culture) events and healthy living tips. For example, people from northern China are in the habit of eating dumplings on the day of Winter Solstice. And on Beginning of Autumn, some people treat     7     (they) to a big feast, especially of meat, something they call “putting on autumn weight”, or tieqiubiao.

But no matter     8     differently people celebrate the 24 solar terms, they have been here for a long time and could last forever.

According to Chinese writer and academic Yu Shicun, unlike many other examples of intangible cultural heritage — Peking Opera and Chinese Zhusuan, for example, the solar terms are neither regional (地域的) nor a type of art or skill. Instead, the system is a philosophy of time,     9     applies to everything. And this means they are     10     (likely) to die out.