In the ancient Shuowen Dictionary, trust is defined as a combination of sincerity and reliability,     1     (emphasize) the importance of keeping one’s word. This concept was     2     (deep) valued in ancient China, with many proverbs highlighting the significance of integrity in personal and professional relationships. CaoCao, the     3     (rule) of the Wei state during the Three Kingdoms period, embodied (体现) this spirit of trustworthiness, which played a crucial role in his ability     4     (draw) numerous heroes to his side.

During the Three Kingdoms era, a time     5     (mark) by division and conflict among the states of Wei, Shu, and Wu, loyalty was a prized yet rare commodity (商品). Cao Cao’s relationship     6     Guan Yu shows his understanding of trust and respect as foundational     7     (element) of leadership. After capturing Xu Province, Cao Cao encountered Guan Yu. Guan Yu’s surrender (投降) to Cao Cao, under the condition     8     he would leave once he learned of Liu Bei’s whereabouts, presented     9     unique challenge. Cao Cao’s acceptance of these terms, and his subsequent efforts to win over Guan Yu, demonstrate a strategic approach to leadership that     10     (value) talent and honours personal loyalty.

“With your fingers crossed, inhale; then slowly lift your arms above your head.” Lu Jing, 66, is demonstrating a Ba Duan Jin exercise in a video she posted on the Douyin video app. As one of a handful of high-level professionals in China, Lu     1     (teach) Ba Duan Jin since 2005. Each morning from 7 to 8:30, she organizes offline exercise sessions, attracting many a     2     (participate) every day.

Ba Duan Jin is     3     easy-to-learn indoor exercise     4     (consist) of a sequence of eight qigong movements that strengthen the muscles, improve circulation and respiration, and boost the immune system. Such health benefits appeal     5     Lu’s followers aged 16 to 70. “Losing weight is difficult for women at my age, but my ‘love handles’ have gone!” one says. “I need to be     6     (high) concentrated on the coordination of my movements and breathing so I feel     7     (liberate) from anxiety,” says another.

Lu is keen     8     (collect) feedback from viewers and interact with experienced practitioners. In Lu’s opinion, Ba Duan Jin is not a rigid fitness regime. It’s important to listen to people’s responses, so that the traditional exercise can     9     (tailor) to meet modern people’s needs. That is     10     we truly inherit the treasure of Chinese culture.

On October 26, China launched the Shenzhou-17 manned spaceship, and the three astronauts aboard would be sent to stay in orbit for about six months on a space station mission. The Shenzhou-17 crew has     1     youngest lineup since the     2    (construct) of China’s Tiangong space station started.

They would perform     3     (variety) of in-orbit space science and application payload tests and experiments, Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA, announced     4     (formal) at a press conference. They would carry     5     extravehicular (舱外) activities, set up extravehicular payloads and conduct space station maintenance and other tasks.

The Shenzhou-17 astronauts would do extravehicular experimental maintenance for the first time,     6     is a very challenging task, Lin added.

With space debris (碎片) increasing, its impact on long-term operating spacecraft is unavoidable, Lin said. “Through initial inspections, we     7     (find) that the solar wings of the space station had been hit by tiny space particles (粒子) several times,     8     (cause) minor damages. ”

“We already took this into consideration in the design stage, though. At present, all functionality and performance indicators of the space station meet requirements,” he added. The astronauts also had the intention     9     (assess) the functioning and performance of the space station and would test the coordination and compatibility of ground support centers in performing space station operation and management tasks,     10     (aim) at further improving the operating efficiency and fault correction capability of the space station.

In 1974, farmers happened to unearth the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, which is filled     1     more than 8,000 statues of life-size soldiers. Now, a new theory     2     (suggest) that the statues have been inspired by Greek art. Researchers have even presented DNA evidence     3     (back) it up.

”We now have DNA evidence that close contact existed between the first emperor’s China and the west before the formal opening of the Silk Road. This is far     4     (early) than we formerly thought,“ says Li Xiuzhen, a researcher at a museum in Xi’an. ”The theory that the Chinese were interacting with Greeks or at least Greek culture at such     5     early date is not unbelievable.

“Although the Silk Road between China and Europe was     6     (official) established in the 3rd century AD, Romans were already wearing Chinese silk even during the rule of the First Emperor of Rome,” says Lukas Nickel, chair of Asian Art History at the University of Vienna. “I can even imagine the Chinese artists see some     7     (example)of Greek art, which made its way into Asia after Alexander the Great,     8     army in the 4th century BC fought all the way to present-day India. Before the     9     (appear) of the soldiers, China did not have a tradition of     10     (produce) life-size statues. The change indicates they may have had some outside influence or help.”

One of the reasons     1     Tanghulu’s (糖葫芦) recent popularity is the social media trend among South Korean millennials of posting videos feathering the treat     2     (eat) and how to make Tanghulu on Instagram, Facebook and Kakao Story. Sold by the stick, the dessert-to-go tastes great and     3     (look) greater.

A Chongqing-born international student studying in the UK     4     (recent) entranced the public by sharing traditional Chinese candied haws,     5     (know) as “糖葫芦” (Sugar-coated haws), on the streets of Edinburgh. The accompanying video swiftly won widespread praise on social media. In the video, dressed in     6     (tradition) Chinese clothes known as Hanfu, the student offered her homemade candied haws to passersby. She not only introduced them to the snack’s preparation and various flavors but also excited curiosity     7     delight among the foreign onlookers.

Upon coming across the candied haws, one British girl excitedly cried “Tanghulu” in fear, much to the student’s joy. The student quickly     8     (offer) the treat to the child, who eagerly expressed a desire     9     (taste) it, having seen the sweet treat in Chinese TV series.

Another child, born in the UK, was unexpectedly nicknamed “Tanghulu”, despite never having visited China. At that moment, he discovered     10     origin of his name and enjoyed the flavor of the traditional Chinese snack.

China plans to expand its space station to six modules(舱)from three in coming years, a researcher at the China Academy of Space Technology said on Wednesday.

The space station will play     1     important role as “space home port”,     2     (provide) an alternative platform for near-Earth missions as the International Space Station (ISS) nears the end of its lifespan(寿命). The ISS     3     (expect) to be decommissioned (退役) after 2030. The lifetime of the Chinese space station will be more than 15 years. It is longer than the 10 years the country     4     (previous) announced.

China’s self-built space station, also     5     (know) as Tiangong, or Sky Palace in Chinese, has been     6     full operation since late 2022. And it hosts a maximum of three astronaut s at an orbital altitude of up to 450 kilometers.

It will have a weight of 180 tonnes after expansion, about 40 percent of the mass of the ISS,     7     has been in orbit for over two decades.

Regarding the expansion, another module is also in the plan. Other plans, including the development of large space telescopes, 3D printers, intelligent robots     8     a warning system, are also underway.

Chinese state media said last year that China would be matchless as the ISS was approaching     9     (retire), and added that China had been requested by several countries     10     (send) their astronauts to the Chinese station.

Yixing teapot,     1     is also called zisha hu in Chinese, is translated as “purple sand teapot”. Approximately five to six thousand years ago, pottery (制陶技艺) activity first emerged in the city of Yixing,     2     (locate) in the southern Jiangsu Province. At that time, Yixing city was one of the famous production     3     (region) of pottery in the east, but in the Tang Dynasty (618—907), potters started to teem with zisha ni or purple sand clay. By the early Ming Dynasty (1368—1644), the popularity of this specialized form of pottery had increased, and replaced other pottery,     4     (become) the preferred tea set.

Zisha hu is     5     unique Chinese art form that developed during the Song Dynasty (960—1279), but reached the height of its fame during the early Ming Dynasty. This very elegant, but simple style of pottery became     6     (increasing) popular as tea preparation     7     (it) moved towards simplicity. The process of preparing tea during the earlier Tang Dynasty     8     (involve) the grinding (碾碎) of leaves and the addition of incense. As this complex method began to fall out of favor, it     9     (replace) with the use of simple bill wonderful whole tea leaves and buds. The unglazed and uncolored purple sand teapot proved it could best capture the real color and fragrance of this new style of tea. In addition, its aesthetics reflected the cultural and     10     (philosophy) ideas of the times.

China-made autonomous sweepers are grabbing attention all over the globe, as the country uses its technological expertise (专长)     1     (release) new quality productive forces in the field of cleanliness.

A Shanghai-based high-tech company has received     2     world’s first road testing license for autonomous sweepers. The company’s latest product,     3     (launch) in March, combines three cleanliness tasks—sweeping, road spraying, and garbage transportation and is able to cut overall cleanliness operation costs by 70 percent. Equipped     4     technologies including millimeter-wave radars (雷达), cameras and high-precision positioning, the sweepers can achieve precise edge fitting, safe obstacle (障碍) avoidance, emergency avoidance, flexible turning and direction switching during operation.

In recent months, its advanced technology and features have attracted the attention of several local residents as well as     5     (visitor). The vehicles operate powerfully, especially during extreme weather. After completing the daily cleaning tasks, they     6     (automatic) drive to the garbage collection area and complete dumping (倾倒) task by     7     (they).

Liang Haiming, director of Hainan University’s Belt and Road Research Institute, said that unmanned sweepers made in China have advantages in automation technology, smart management and the application of new energy,     8     helps to improve safety and work     9     (efficient).

“In addition to cleanliness, the field of autonomous driving     10     (include) limited and low-speed environments such as distribution, shared travel, public transportation, ports and terminals, and mining operations,” Liang said.

It’s common to see a barista (咖啡师) create coffee art (咖啡拉花). However, it’s a whole different ball game doing same thing with tea. Over the past several years, Han Zheming, a 40-year-old Shanghai resident,     1       (manage) to perfect the skill, creating tea art in cups, or dian cha in Chinese. “It is similar     2     the foam (泡沫) on top of a cup of coffee, except that it is made of tea rather than milk. ”

Chinese tea culture started to enjoy     3       (popular) during the Tang Dynasty. After hundreds of years of evolution, it thrived throughout the Song Dynasty,     4       tea had become a necessity for almost everyone, just like other items as rice, oil and salt. In the eyes of people of that time, good tea should be white and fine. The better the tea, the whiter it should be, and the     5     (long) the foam should last.

Han is curious about the patterns     6     (create) on the tea foam and he often goes to museums to observe Song paintings. “    7     (usual), it takes a year of practice for one to fully grasp tea-whisking.” It is through trial and error that Han gets going. Now, he can deliver a piece of tea-whisking art in “one take”.

“It’s like     8     (add) bells and whistles to tea and giving people     9     stronger sense of occasion, so drinking tea is more fun,” Han says. It’s also his intention     10     (bring) the old ritual (礼仪) and culture back for more people to appreciate.