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.

Statistics show that there are more than 1. 9 billion videos related to stove-boiled tea on a popular Chinese short video platform. Stove-boiled tea, a newly     1    (emerge) social activity among young Chinese people, has been filling up social media feeds in recent weeks. Usually several friends sitting around a fire stove enjoy     2     smell of charcoal-grilled snacks and socialize while waiting for the tea     3     (boil). In many ways, it is the perfect activity in the winter,     4     (warm) body and soul in the colder months.

    5     it has recently regained popularity, cooking tea on a stove actually has a long history in China. Stove-boiled tea is derived from an intangible cultural heritage from southwest China’s Yunnan province: huotang roasted tea and a kind of huotang culture thus     6     (form) around it.

The reason why stove-boiled tea is gaining such popularity, apart from its embodiment of traditional Chinese tea culture, is     7     (part) because of its portrayal in the costume television drama “A Dream of Splendor”, which     8    (broadcast) last summer. The activity also shows young people’s pursuit of a sense of ritual, with their     9     (long) for traditional tea culture and aspirations returning to the pastoral (田园). It also helps that tourism is gradually recovering.     10    , stove-boiled tea acts as a social way of combining ancient and modern elements, attracting many young people who love both tourism and traditional tea culture.

According to UNESCO, deep in the sea     1     (lie) a great number of valuable relics—around 3 million boats, many cities and thousands of human relics. Today, these relics of human heritage are suffering serious damage from commercial and industrial exploitation (开发), making     2     (they) protection even more urgent.

    3     (protect) and inherit (传承) our hard-to-notice yet still important underwater cultural heritage, the National Base of Underwater Archaeology for the South China Sea     4     (launch) by China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration in Feb, 2023.

The base is planned to cover     5     area of 74 mu and a total construction area of 31,085 square meters. It is expected to perform various     6     (function), including underwater cultural heritage surveys and protection measures, cultural heritage repair and archaeologist training, according to the administration.

Li Qun, vice-minister of culture and tourism, told Xinhua     7     the South China Sea is the     8     (large) in scale and richest in underwater cultural heritage among China’s waters and is an important area of the Maritime Silk Road.

Building the base is an important step toward strengthening the country’s underwater cultural heritage protection work and is     9     great importance in passing on traditional Chinese culture and     10     (safeguard) China’s sovereignty (主权), security and maritime rights, Li added.

A new chain of coffee shops has sprung up in the city of Wuxi, East China’s Jiangsu province, themed on the ancient Huishan clay figurine (泥人) culture—with a few modern adaptations. The Nanimomo Cafe chain has expanded     1     (rapid) since May last year and now has 11     2     (branch) in operation. The coffee shops display     3     range of figurines and related creative cultural products. In addition     4     drinking coffee, visitors can choose whether     5     (have) a go at making clay sculptures on site.

Huishan clay figurines are made from the black clay found at the foot of Huishan Mountain in Wuxi. They are said to have a     6     (record) history of more than 400 years. And they     7     (list) among the first batch (批) of China’s national intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) in 2006. In Wuxi dialect, Huishan clay figurines are pronounced nanimomo. The two most famous     8     (tradition) figurines are A Fu and A Xi, meaning “good fortune” and “joy”, and the factory has designed and produced several new figurines, such as Nani and Momo,    9     are more modern and attractive to young consumers. There are also several cute and colorful characters,    10     (carry) different types of food for which Wuxi is famous: spare ribs (排骨), peaches and steamed buns.

Aesop’s fable, the town mouse and the country mouse,     1    (concentrate)on the dangers of city living and its advantages. For mice and men alike, as long as those involved, are able to grasp them. It requires an ability to respond successfully     2     novel problems. So a pair of researchers in Germany have looked     3    (see)whether urban mice are     4    (good)at doing this than rural ones. Their conclusion, just     5    (publish)in Animal Behaviors, is that they are. Valeria Mazza captured 17 mice from farmland and 14 others from     6    (vary)places in central Berlin. They kept these animals in a laboratory for a year and then challenged them with tasks     7     would yield a reward of food. Tasks included     8    (open)the window of a house made of Lego bricks and yanking out a wad of paper jammed inside a clear plastic tube. Both groups seemed equally eager to participate in the tasks,     9     the urban mice were more talented at solving the novel ones. It suggested that they were the product of natural select ion acting on     10    (they)city dwelling ancestors.

There are certain foods which should never be stored in the fridge. Some of them may surprise you.

Nothing makes bread dry faster than your fridge. The cold temperature makes it hard. If you have made     1     (sandwich) with the bread, then you can store them in it.

We all love to have tomatoes. But     2     (store) them in the fridge will cause them to lose the taste. The cold air in the fridge stop the ripening (成熟) process. And     3     we all know, ripening is what gives every tomato more taste. For best results,     4     (keep) them out.

There’s no reason to keep honey in a fridge. Putting it in your fridge will in fact increase the speed     5     the crystallization (结晶). This will make honey harder or nearly impossible     6     (use).

If you haven’t opened your watermelons, then there’s     7     (not) need to put them in your fridge. Research has shown that watermelons can be stored in room temperature. Do remember that they must be whole. Watermelons     8     have been cut open should     9     (put) in the fridge. What’s more, they should be covered.

Cucumber enjoys room temperature. The fridge is not a good place for storing it. Cool temperature can make cucumber’s skin go bad     10     (fast), so find a dry and cool place at room temperature for your cucumber.

Xinjiang’s Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway (referred to as the Heruo Railway),     1     “last kilometer” of the world’s first desert railway loop (环形) line,     2    (put) into operation on June 16, 2022, with a design speed of 120 kilometers per hour.

With a total     3    (long) of 825 kilometers, the Heruo Railway stretches     4    Hotan city in the west to Ruoqiang county in the east. Travel time between the two terminuses (终点站) can be cut to 11 hours and 26 minutes.

Now with the 2,712-kilometer-long closed railway loop around the Taklamakan Desert, millions of locals and visitors now are able     5    (travel) through the desert more easily. Additionally, the     6    (recent) opened track has also improved local transportation conditions, with six freight (货运) and passenger stations, eleven passenger stations     7    five stations for technical use. Xinjiang-grown crops may now be delivered through the railway line, instead of taking days by trucks.

The Heruo Railway has become one of the key international passageways,     8    connect China’s western hinterland (内陆) to South Asia, Central and West Asia as a regional trunk line in central and western China. The greatly     9    (improve) transportation has boosted southern Xinjiang’s economic and social development. It is important for ensuring harmony and     10    (promote) rural revitalization (振兴).

Volunteering- giving your time and energy to a cause without financial reward—has witnessed     1     significant increase among young people across the globe. It has become a way for youths     2     (share)warmth and develop a sense of social     3     (responsible).

With their     4     (create)thinking, young people in China have contributed     5     the diversified development of public good, from education and science popularization to animal rescue and environmental protection. They are so engaged, and so enthusiastic, and always ready to give more. They’re thinking not just about the tasks that they     6     (ask)to do, but how they can contribute and     7     else they can do.

In fact, young     8     (generation)not only breathe new life into programs for the greater good, but also get plenty of benefits from volunteering including     9     (become)a better person. They have come to     10     (far)understand the importance of being a responsible person through volunteering. Nowadays more and more young Chinese people get involved in public welfare and make it more enjoyable.

Dried tangerine peel (陈皮) is exactly what it sounds like — the peel of a tangerine or a mandarin orange that’s dried and aged. It    1    (apply) in Chinese cooking and traditional medicine for a long time.

Dried tangerine peel is made from fresh tangerines or mandarin oranges. People put the fresh tangerine peels in the sun before storing them away to age anywhere from several months     2    about 70 years.     3     longer the peel is aged, the more it is prized for its depth of flavor.

With its bitter-sweet flavor, dried tangerine peel is usually added to Chinese dishes. And it’s also frequently seen in     4     (vary) tea drinks.

You can make     5    (you)own dried tangerine peel at home. Make a few small cuts at the base of the tangerines or mandarin oranges and remove the peel. If you like, you can remove the white pith    6    (use) a paring knife. Be careful not to pierce ( 刺 破 ) the peel. If the peel is pierced, its oil will be released. And then string the peels with rope and hang them by a sunny window     7     they are completely dried. The amount of time     8     (need) to dry the peels will depend on the humidity and how much sun they get. When the peels are     9     (full) dried, store them in an airtight     10    (contain) to age for at least a few months before using, or even up to several years.

The item “Traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices in China” was added     1     the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on Nov.29, 2022.

The item     2     (regard) as the “largest volume” in the applications. In terms of tea-making skills, it includes green tea, dark tea, oolong tea, white tea, black tea, yellow tea, reprocessed tea and other traditional tea-making skills.     3     (additional), the item contains related     4     (custom). These prove that Chinese tea culture is extensive and profound.

Tea has been associated with Chinese people for thousands of years. It has not only deeply integrated into the people’s daily life, but also become     5     important carrier to inherit Chinese culture.

Chinese tea culture,     6     has been connecting China with the rest of the world throughout the ages,     7     (carry) forward in the future.

The success of this application is enough     8     (prove) the value of Chinese tea and tea culture. We will go on to promote the sustainable and healthy     9     (develop) of the global tea industry and let more people know tea, love tea, enjoy tea fragrance and share a     10     (good) life.