I     1     (become) interested in Tai Chi after reading about it in a magazine. At the time, I was looking for a way to balance     2    (I) job as a manager at an IT firm with my     3    (person) life. I didn’t want to go to the gym or sweat my way through the woods. I was looking for a less strenuous(费力的) way to exercise while also relaxing     4    (mental).

My path to Tai Chi took me through a number of teachers and courses. The first Tai Chi form, On     5     other hand, I learned from a textbook. This book was my first     6    (introduce) to Tai Chi. The book is very precise step-by-step instructions were very well explained to me. The Yang form was demonstrated,     7     is a very good and simple form for learning Tai Chi. I didn’t really know what needed to pay attention to at the time, so I just learned the movement sequence of the form, strictly     8    (follow)the instructions in the book.

I can only report positive results after     9     (year) of consistent training. I’ve gained mental stability and calm. My mindfulness has gotten better, and I am now more aware     10     the here and now in my everyday life.

In the beginning, western people use letters of the alphabet (字母表)     1     (write). People who write in Chinese, however, use characters that stand for words or ideas. Historians believed Chinese writing began as early as 1500 BC. The     2     (early) forms were called “Oracle Bone Inscriptions (甲骨文)”. These were animal bones marked with pictures. Besides writing on bones,     3     (mark) on turtle shells was also a way for ancient to record.

By 1400 BC, the Chinese writing system had become more complex.     4     number of its characters was over 2,500. Around 200 BC, almost everyone used the same characters. Even today some modern Chinese characters are similar to     5     (that) from 2,000 years ago. For example, the character that     6     (mean) man in the Lishu system from 200BC is similar to the character from the Jiantizi     7     is used today.

People     8     (make) efforts to change Chinese characters over the centuries. The most important changes happened in the twentieth century. The Chinese government made many characters simple     9     that more people could learn to read. This simpler system is used in most parts of China. with these changes, Chinese writing from 2,200 years ago is still understood today. Many foreigners are interested in     10     (we) Chinese characters.

With some free time during the holiday, I thought it was time to achieve one of my China     1     (dream): visiting Harbin!

That afternoon of     2     first day was time to see the fabled (传奇的) snow and ice world of Harbin. This frozen amusement park just blew me away. The giant ice statues, all illuminated (发光的)     3     the inside, were simply magical to explore; and various attractions and games, such as sledding, made the trip all the more worthwhile.

Although busy, the park was still definitely manageable, and     4     was nice to see so many families who must have traveled from far and wide all having fun. My only regret was wearing only two pairs of socks and not three, as     5     the sun went down the temperatures quickly dropped as well.

On my second day, my tour took us to the old city center. While     6     (walk) down the pedestrian (步行的) Central Street, I found architectural influences from both the present and the past     7     (be) on full display, showing an amazing mix of cultures. In some ways, it reminded me of walking down Nanjing Road in Shanghai — just a lot     8     (cold)! The freezing temperatures didn't stop visitors from enjoying the local ice cream, however.

The magic of this icy city     9     (stick) with me since and I can't wait until next winter     10     (visit) again.

Huangmei Opera is one of the five major     1     (style) of Chinese opera, and has a significant influence     2     Chinese opera. Huangmei Opera came from Huangmei, Hubei Province. It was     3     (original) known as Huangmei Tune (曲调) or Caicha (tea-picking) Opera. It is now popular in Anqing City in Anhui Province, and Huangmei County in Hubei Province.

During the late Qing Dynasty, the Caicha Tune of Huangmei County     4     (introduce) into the neighboring areas of Huaining County, Anhui Province. This combined with local folk art and songs, and sung in the Anqing dialect with a monologue (独白). So     5     new kind of opera gradually developed, known as Huai Tune,     6     formed the basis of Huangmei Opera later.     7     (affect) by the performance and drama of Hui Tune and Qingyang Tune, the Huangmei Opera was born. Anqing City became the center and after more than a hundred years’     8     (develop), Huangmei Opera has become a major local opera in Anhui Province and achieved national fame. Huangmei Opera vividly expresses lyrical emotion. It is easy     9     (understand) Huangmei Opera. Huangmei Opera’s expressive, simple and vivid tunes have made     10     very popular throughout the country.

The film, Article 20, which is directed by Zhang Yimou, draws     1    (it) name from Article 20 of the Criminal Law, which focuses on the sometimes controversial legal concept of justifiable (正当的) self-defense.    2    (draw) inspiration from real-life cases of justifiable defense, the film has got widespread attention and resonated with the public as well as judicial institutions during the Spring Festival holiday.

According to the Criminal Law《刑法, when a person,    3    (face) with an unlawful attack, takes action     4    (protect) his or her own rights or interests or those of others, and the attacker is thereby harmed, the defender will be considered to have acted in justifiable defense and will not bear criminal liability (刑事责任) .

For some time, justifiable defense     5    (regard) as a “dormant clause (休眠条款)”, due to challenges in interpretation and the influence of misconceptions, such as “whoever is injured or killed is right”.

Many online users have commented that the true    6    (mean) of the law should be to increase the liability for wrongdoers, rather than burdening good people.

Luo Xiang,    7    renowned professor of criminal law at China University of Political Science and Law, said that the public and judicial officers should avoid taking a “godlike” perspective or adopting a rational but armchair stance. Instead, they should consider the situation in    8    the defender was involved, empathize with the defender’s position, and refrain (避免) from making excessive demands on the defender, Luo said.

Liu Zhe, a prosecutor (检察官) from the Beijing People’s Procuratorate, said some outdated judicial concepts may lead    9    flawed (有错的) cases. Making decisions different from traditional precedent requires courage. But judicial officers need to encourage the public to fight against    10    (legal) activities.

Have you ever wondered how people type Chinese characters? The answer lies in the wonderfully useful phonetic system     1     (call) pinyin. It's the most commonly used system for spelling out the Chinese sounds, and it uses the letters in the Latin alphabet that you are already familiar       2     .

Pinyin is     3     extremely useful tool and should be the foundation of your Chinese learning. Besides, it's not just for Chinese learners like yourself.     4     (actual), all native Chinese speakers know pinyin,     5     is the first thing Chinese children learn at school before learning characters. So even if you don't know Chinese characters, you can type in pinyin and make     6     (you)understood.

Every single sound that exists in Chinese can     7     (display) easily in a pinyin chart. Once you master these 409 sounds along with the tones, you'll have practically mastered the pronunciation of every single word in the Chinese language. We've also created a series of video     8     (lesson)with practice tools that enable you to record yourself and listen back to it to     9     (sure) that your pronunciation matches the examples. Combined with our Tone Pairs practice tool, you now have everything you need     10     (master)pinyin, tones, and Chinese pronunciation.