The 74-year-old art historian Mimi Gates has     1     (enthusiastic) participated in the conservation of the Dunhuang relies for years. When speaking about     2     topic, she goes from the cultural and historical background of the caves to the vivid details of certain paintings there.

Looking back, Gates says     3     changed her life was the decision to visit Asia when she was young. She found herself     4     (attract) to Asian culture, and decided to start with China as her primary interest. She paid her first visit     5     Dunhuang in 1995 and “had a brief glimpse of the     6     (great) of Dunhuang”. The Dunhuang grottoes are a 1,600-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site     7     (comprise) about 500 caves and a large collection of Buddhist art. She was invited to return in 2009     8     (present) a paper at a conference there. Spending a few days there, Gates visited the caves whenever she had free time.

When Fan Jinshi, the then-head of the Dunhuang Research Academy,     9     (visit) the US to raise funds for the protection of the site, Gates suggested setting up a foundation     10     accepted Fan’s offer to help organize and chair the foundation, for it was such a spectacular site and so important to humanity in her mind.

Patrick Sommier, a French theater director, is dovoted to passing on the true meaning of Chinese operas to the French public.

On the occasion of the     1     (celebrate) for the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France in 2004, Sommier     2     (invite) to cooperate on a joint project to spread Peking Opera in France. Sommier says that when he arrived in China, like many other     3     (European), he showed great interest in Chinese operas. The beauty of Peking Opera     4    (immediate) caught his heart, he says.

Recalling his first cooperation with the Chinese team, Sommier says he was impressed by the actors’ makeups, costumes,     5     the characters of incredible strength. He was also touched by the Chinese professors’ effort     6     (pass) their acting skills to their students by acting with them. One professor explained, “In China, opera is     7     art requiring lifelong devotion and the effect of the performance largely     8     (depend) on the actors’ inner strength and acting skills.”

Sommier began exploring into different performance forms and suggested introducing Chinese operas     9     the French audience. The team then gave some     10     (origin) performances, some without makeups or costumes and some with students performing classics in a traditional way.

Xi’an, capital city of Shaanxi, served as the capital of 13 dynasties in Chinese history, which in total     1    (last) about 1,100 years. Consequently, the ancient history of Shaanxi is to some degree the ancient history of China. Shaanxi History Museum considers     2     a duty to be a showcase of Chinese ancient civilization.

People call Shaanxi History Museum “Bright Pearl in Ancient Capital and Precious Treasure of China”, for it is an art palace     3    (full) showing Shaanxi history and culture as well as Chinese ancient civilization. Its architectural buildings and exhibits have made it famous as a first-class museum in China     4     it was opened to the public in 1991. It covers     5     total area of 65, 000 square meters.

The basic halls in the museum are divided into three exhibition halls     6     2,000 cultural remains to display the history of ancient times in chronological (编年的) order. The first exhibition hall     7    (locate) on the ground floor while the other two are on the second floor.

While     8    (design) the buildings in Shaanxi History Museum, the great designer used     9    (tradition) palace construction of Tang Dynasty for reference. Adopting symmetry axis (轴对称) layout with main and supporting buildings in order, the complex     10    (architecture) show the unique presence of Tang Dynasty.