Longmen Grottoes

Set on the banks of the Yi River, 12km south of the current Luoyang City, the Longmen Grottoes are ranked first of the Four Great Grotioes in China, together with Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Yungang Grottoes in Datong and Mount Maiji Grottoes in Tianshui. They were also listed in the World Cultural Heritages and Relics by UNESCO in 2000.

    1     (Locate) between the Xiangshan Mountain and the Longmen Mountain, with the YiRiver flowing below, the Longmen Grottoes are     2     (harmony) with mountains, forests and rivers displaying a peaceful atmosphere. Viewing it at a distance, it looks like     3     natural gate, which gave it the name “Yi Que (the gate of the Yi River)”. According to legend,     4     Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty climbed on Mount Mang north of Luoyang, he was very pleased and ordered the eastern capital     5     (build) here with its palace gate opposite the Yique. Thus, it came to be named, Longmen Gate.

Longmen Gate also houses     6     (rough) 2860 stele inscriptions (碑刻), making     7     a treasure for ancient calligraphy study. In total, more than 100,000 Buddhist statues and niches     8     (carve) into the cliffs by ancient Chinese people ranging from the largest one, the Vairocana Buddha with a     9     (high) of 17.14 meters,     10     the smallest one of 2 centimeters.

Wandering in the Longmen Grottoes, one is amazed by the delicate carving skills, deep Buddhist culture and great art achievements of Chinese people.

In the grip of a cold wave, with temperatures plummeting below minus 10 degrees Celsius, the plateau county of Jishishan in Northwest China’s Gansu province was jolted from its slumber midnight Monday by a 6.2-mngnitude earthquake, causing death,     1    (destroy) and panic.

According to a local villager Ding Xiaolong, he was asleep at home when the quake struck. He felt     2    (fortune) for being able to escape, but he also conveyed deep sadness for his friend who was currently working in the coastal city of Xiamen,     3    (locate) more than 2,000 kilometers away.

“I received a call from him after the quake, asking me to check on the situation of his family,” Ding said, adding that he rushed to their house, only to discover that it     4     (level), to the ground, with four people buried underneath.

    5     Ding’s efforts to gather over 20 people for help, it proved futile(徒劳的) as it was already too late. All four members of his friend’s family bad lost their lives.

As of 10 am Tuesday, a total of 105 were confirmed     6    (die) in Gansu and 11 in the neighboring Qinghai province, with hundreds injured.

Members of the Gansu branch of the Blue Sky Rescue Team,     7     Chinese civil relief Group(小组), have set up dozens of tents in the public square of Date village. Local officials have provided warm water for the affected residents     8    (consume) and use for preparing instant noodles.

In Dahejia township,     9     the temperature plummeted(速降) to 16 degrees Celsius below zero, over 140 medical staff at a local hospital word occupied treating the injured people. According to first person     10    (account), the loved ones of many of these patients were untraceable in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Nature’s Lungs

We know that trees are nature’s purifier (净化器): They absorb carbon emissions (碳排放)and release oxygen. But their     1       (able) to do that changes as they age. According to Newsweek, trees     2       are at least 20 years old can absorb carbon better than younger ones and older ones. And a recent study by researchers from South Korea’s Forest Research Institute     3       (find) exactly how much carbon that each 25-year-old cherry tree can absorb: 20 pounds (9.1 kilograms) each year.

According to the study, there are     4       (current) about 1.5 million cherry trees in South Korea, which means they can take in as much as 13,650 tons of carbon each year.

This may sound like a lot,     5       it’s only the annual emissions of 6,000 cars. And it’s pretty     6       (shock) if you think about it: The annual emissions of a single-car requires 250 mature cherry trees to absorb     7       carbon.

Yet, planting trees is still considered the most effective way     8       (reduce) global warming, according to Professor Tom Crowther of the Swiss university ETH Zurich. “Forest restoration isn’t just one of our climate change     9       (solution), it’s the top one,” he told the Guardian. “What blows my mind is the scale. I thought restoration would be in the top 10, but it is much    10     (powerful) than all of the other climate change solutions proposed.”

For those looking to escape the concrete jungle, maybe it’s time to dive into the bamboo forests of southern Sichuan.

A natural forest that people in Sichuan province tend     1    (visit) is the Southern Sichuan Bamboo Sea in Yibin. The 120-square-kilometer Bamboo Sea is the     2     (large) bamboo park in China and its average temperature seldom drops below zero degrees Celsius in winter     3     many parts of the country are covered with snow and ice.

Known as one of the country’s 10 most beautiful forests, it     4    (be) a popular tourist attraction since the Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon     5    (shoot), there in 2001.

Two years later, the bamboo forest received world-wide     6    (recognize) as a bamboo reserve in December 2003,     7    (become) the fourth tourism destination in China to be granted Green Globe 21 certification.

The Bamboo Sea covers Changning and Jiang’an, two counties     8     the authority of Yibin. Amazed at its vast expanse, Huang Tingjian,     9     poet from the Song Dynasty, described it as “bamboo waves”. As Huang was an     10    (influence) man of letters, his description gave rise to the forest’s popular nickname—the Bamboo Sea.

Anji, a small county in East China’s Zhejiang Province,     1     (receive) over 28 million tourists every year. There are more than 300 coffee shops there,     2     in terms of population density has surpassed that of Shanghai. “A cup of coffee bridges the gap between the big city and the small county,” said Han Jie, a Shanghai tourist who     3     (temporary) escaped the large city and came to Anji over the weekend. In Zhejiang,     4     increasing number of coffeehouse owners are venturing into rural areas to meet the demands of a growing population of young and adventurous coffee enthusiasts.

    5     (locate) in the bamboo forests of Penghu Village in Anji , a café called Waterfall Coffee has gained popularity     6     social media influencers. Visitors can not only taste coffee on the cliff halfway up the mountain, admiring waterfalls in the distance,     7     enjoy boating on the lake with an excellent view.

The outdoor café, the Deep Blue Coffeehouse, has received 350,000 tourists in less than a year, with the highest daily number of visitors     8     (reach) 8,000 people. By far, the small coffee shop has fueled the rural economy of Hongmiao Village in some way, causing university students     9     (cooperate) with the local government in organizing a start-up fair, with the aim of attracting more university     10     (graduate) to start business in the village.

Jiangxi Province has taken many measures to protect finless porpoises (江豚),     1     have faced dramatic changes in their living environment as Poyang Lake, China’s largest freshwater lake, suffered a severe drought.

The species,    2     (list) as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, now lives only along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The number of finless porpoises    3     (drop) significantly in the past few years, with only 457     4     (live) in Poyang Lake.

As the water level dropped to less than 12 meters, the lake officially entered this year’s dry season on August 6,     5     (early) than at any time since records began in 1951. Severe drought has reduced the lake by 75 percent. This change will     6     (undoubted) increase the risk of the finless porpoises hitting boats and also result     7     a food shortage for the porpoises.

Wang Liang, who works for the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Jiangxi, said the province has released     8     total of 200 million fish, shrimps (虾) and crabs into the waters     9     (enrich) the food supply and more than 2,000     10     (volunteer) have been trained to rescue the species.

Over the summer break, a wave of fashionably     1     (dress) young people went to Kaifeng in Central China’s Henan province to explore the city     2     was the ancient capital of eight dynasties through a trendy “Citywalk”. They     3     (eager) shared fresh perspectives and travel encounters on various social media platforms.

“Citywalk” means the act     4     walking freely along city     5     (street) free of large and heavy bags. Such a convenient form of travel has emerged as     6     popular trend among young people in China,     7     (offer) them an avenue to experience urban culture and local traditions.

“Kaifeng is one of China’s first national historical and cultural cities, boasting a deep-seated cultural heritage. It’s an ideal destination for unhurried exploration, encouraging visitors     8     (take) a leisurely pace as they step into Kaifeng’s embrace. The heart of Kaifeng’s cultural tourism     9     (lie) in the profound culture of the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Through cultural tourism products with different themes, including architecture, cuisine     10     opera, we aim to help visitors gain a deeper appreciation of Kaifeng’s history and heritage,” said Wei, head of the city’s cultural, radio, film and tourism bureau.

The green grass and bar e rock of Macquarie Island’s landscape contrast dramatically, giving it a wild and natural beauty.

But the island’s more recent history tells     1     tragic story that began in 1810 when humans arrived on the island. In their ships they unknowingly brought rats and mice, which quickly took over the island,     2     (eat) the birds’ eggs and attacking baby birds. Cats     3     (bring) to the island to control the rats and mice.     4     (fortunate), the cats subsequently developed an appetite for the birds, too.

Meanwhile, rabbits were introduced to the island     5     a source of food for humans. Loose on the island,     6     did what rabbits do best—they multiplied rapidly and began eating the native vegetation and digging holes,     7     caused soil erosion. The exploding rabbit population     8     (provide) plentiful food for the cats, meaning that the number of cats also increased. This in turn led to     9     (much) cats hunting the birds. The end result was that parakeets, once large in number and native to the island, died out in 1891.

In 2014, Macquarie Island was declared pest-free and the island’s eco logy is finally on the road to     10     (recover).

9 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式，并将答案填写在答题卡上。

The Silk Road,     1     connected China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe, was a network of trade routes (线路).       2     (establish) when the Han Dynasty opened trade with the West in 130 B. C., the Silk Road routes remained in use until 1453 A. D., when the Ottoman Empire closed them   Although it     3     (be) nearly 600 years since the Silk Road was used for international trade, the routes had a lasting impact     4     trade, culture and history that resonates (引起共鸣) even today.

While the name “Silk Road” originates from the    5     (popular) of Chinese silk among tradesmen, the material was not the only important export from the East to the West. Trade along the Silk Road included fruits and vegetables, livestock, grain, leather tools, artworks, precious stones     6     metals. The greatest value of the Silk Road was the exchange of culture. Art, along with other elements of civilization like religion, philosophy, technology, language, science, as well as architecture,     7     (exchange) along these routes at that time

In 2013, China began to     8     (official) rebuild the historic Silk Route. The project opened up new trade     9     (market) for Chinese goods, giving the country the cheapest and easiest way     10     (sell) materials and goods.

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2016, the Shennongjia Forestry District is covered by vast forest,     1     (nurture) countless species of plants and animals, as well as legends and stories     2     (pass) down through the ages.

Tourism development in the area takes a back seat to the wonders of nature. The natural environment has been largely left untouched,     3     allows visitors the opportunity to appreciate unique beauty. Visitors     4     Shennongjia can base themselves in the town of Muyu, which is the     5     (near) to all the scenic areas in the district.

The name of the district is adapted from the legendary father of Chinese herbal medicine, Shennong, who is said     6     (try) hundreds of types of herbs to heal     7     sick. The Shennongjia Museum of Natural History in Muyu provides a memorial to Shennong and     8     (display) more than 2,000 breeds of plant species.

What if you are not interested in medicinal herbs and just want some sightseeing delights? Shennongjia provides a variety of     9     (option). For example, hikers who love challenges climb the Shennong Top, a pyramid-shaped peak that is considered as the “Roof of Central China.” The climb can never be     10     (bore) with different views along the stairway: a sea of bamboo, a stone forest, and a plateau meadow(高原牧场) filled with flowers and greenery.