Labor Day

How’s this for a strange idea: a day off from work in honor of work    1    (it)? Actually, that is     2     Labor Day, celebrated in the United States and Canada on the first Monday of every September, is all about.

The     3    (one) American Labor Day was celebrated in New York City on September 5th,1882, as thousands of workers and their families came to Union Square for a day in the park. There were picnics and a parade,     4     there were also protests. The workers had gathered, not just to rest and celebrate, but to demand fair wages, the end of child labor, and the right    5    (organize) into unions.

During the period known as The Industrial Revolution, many jobs were difficult and dangerous. People worked for twelve hours, six days a week,     6     extra benefits, and if you were young, chances are you were doing manual labor instead of your ABCs and fractions. Children as young as ten worked in some of     7    (dangerous) places. In the following years, the idea of Labor Day caught on. But then came the violent Haymarket Square Riot (暴乱) of 1886, which led to many deaths in Chicago. After that, many groups began to mark Haymarket Square on May 1st, which became known as International Workers’ Day.

But in spite of this new holiday, it was a long time before the changes that workers wanted     8    (become) a reality. At present, as America and Canada celebrate Labor Day, most of the two    9    (country) children enjoy a day off from school. But it is important to remember that there was a time when every day was a labor day for children in America, and     10    (unfortunate), the same fact remains true for millions of children around the world today.

The 2023 Chinese Bridge Calligraphy and Painting Contest lasted for six months,     1     (attract) 1, 084 contestants from 86 countries     2     a total of 1, 146 calligraphy and painting works.

According to experts, the award winning calligraphy works this year mirrored many Chinese classic elements with more     3     (expressive) and creativity, compared to the winners of last year's contest,

“I feel honored to be the judge again and also     4     (delight) to find that the entries for this year have been such a breakthrough. From their progress, you can     5     (definite) see the authors must have spent a lot of time and energy learning traditional Chinese culture, ” commented one of the judges.

At the closing ceremony, Zhang Bo, professor from Beijing Language and Culture University, gave high praise of the achievement of overseas Chinese teaching,     6     played a significant role in cultural exchanges. He said the quality of the entries resulted from the contestants' years of study, as well as     7     guidance and assistance of overseas Chinese teaching behind them.

The experts suggested watching the videos about the contestants on the website. “Through these videos, we can see their daily practice and creation process,     8     we can also feel their understanding and love for Chinese culture from their introductions. The creative process of calligraphy and painting     9     (have) a visual appreciation similar to dance. It is our hope that these videos     10     (share) on social media will encourage more people to develop a love for Chinese culture.”

An ancient Chinese legend states that there is only one true path up Mount Hua — the 12 km track rising 1,800 m that took 3,000 years     1     (build). I still remember     2     (amaze) by photos of people standing on the Changkong Plank Trail (长空栈道), a wooden path only over 30 centimetres in     3     (wide), with part of their bodies hanging over the cliff. Years later, I found myself     4     (enthusiastic) pursuing the same ambition.

This is where I began—a trail initially pleasant and easy. While many chose to take the cable car     5     (mean) to minimize effort, I avoided the shortcut to the South Peak. I followed the river past some Taoist temples and climbed higher up steep stairs that     6     (carve) expertly into the stone. It took hours     7     I reached higher altitude where view expanded.     8     all directions, equally impressive summits stretched out before me.

Vertical (垂直的) ladders made higher points accessible, often with only chains to arrest your fall. By afternoon, I had reached the very spot     9     had captured my imagination about China. I just stood still, mouth open, leaning right out over the edge,     10     stared down into the vacant space below. Eventually, gathering my courage, I took a few photos. Who would have thought this girl would complete the world’s most dangerous hike?!

For some, cloning (克隆) is a problem, since it means that the awkward day     1     somebody proposes cloning people is unavoidable. For others, it will help medical researchers mass-produce animals for     2     (they) experiments.

That sort of cloning is the goal of Dr Sun Qiang of the Chinese Academy of Science. In 2018, Dr Sun made headlines by     3     (raise) a crab-eating monkey. The following year, he performed     4     same trick with five crab-eaters. On January 16, 2024, he reported in Nature Communications that he has invented a better way to clone monkeys in quantity and that he has in his lab a healthy two-year-old male monkey     5     (produce) with the new method.

Cloning has become     6     (popularity) since it gave the world Dolly, a sheep that, in 1996, became the first animal to be cloned from an adult with this method. But success     7     (rate) are low. For most species only, 1—3% of implants produce a surviving new-born. Even for cattle, where the odds are better, they are still only 5—20%. At the moment, the only people making money from cloning are companies that clone pets and horses. If cloning animals is to become a     8     (scientific) useful technology, then better ways of doing it have to     9     (find).

“    10     we have just obtained one healthy baby monkey from 11 implants, it’s not a bad outcome for the first trial of a new technique,” said Dr Sun.

The first step of ice     1     (fish) is getting the net, which is usually over two kilometers long, ready to put under the ice. Then the workers will put the net down at a     2     (choose) spot, and take it up in the distance of the vast lake.

    3     this is actually achieved is an interesting process. First up, a series of holes are drilled into the ice of about a meter and a half thick. They drill a hole every 50 meters or so and they’ll keep doing that until they’ve drilled the holes the entire way around a circle with a diameter (直径) of two kilometers. Meanwhile, another team gets to work,     4     (extend) the main hole using a     5     (tradition) ice pick. Eventually, a long piece of bamboo will     6     (employ) to thread the rope of the net into the next hole they have drilled 50 meters away. And these guys will continue like that around the entire outside of the circle until the rope     7     (reach) the other side of the circle two kilometers away. At the same time, back at the mother hole, the net is being lowered slowly     8     surely, meter by meter until it’s     9     (complete) submerged under the ice. In the distance, the diggers have reached the other side of the circle and are now working on digging the hole that the net will eventually come out     10    .

In February 2022, I began learning Chinese with the     1     (intend) of enjoying Chinese culture. Almost a year later, I found myself in Beijing, the capital of China. Before coming here, I     2     (attend) Chinese classes, and I could sense my progress in the language. As     3     matter of fact, studying for just one year wasn’t enough to claim fluency. But full proficiency in the language is not necessary to lose     4     (you) in and enjoy many attractions of life in China.

The one thing that truly makes me feel comfortable is making friends and engaging     5     conversation. At Tsinghua University,     6     I pursued my studies in China, I made friends with many Chinese young people. I often     7     (invite) to have meals or leisure activities with them, such as going to KTV, which is a popular entertainment among Chinese youth. I felt that connecting with my Chinese peers through a shared passion, such as singing, was     8     (incredible) enjoyable and beautiful.

During breaks from study, I frequently travels across China. I’ve explored cities like Shanghai, Chongqing, and Changsha in Hunan province, among others. Though I have experienced traveling on overnight trains for over 12 hours several times and explored     9     (familiar) cities, I never felt fearful or unwelcome as a foreigner. Chinese people are warm and welcoming to foreigners, and eager     10     (offer) help.

Shoes may not be the first thing one would notice of these 2, 200-year-old Terracotta Warriors,     1     an initial analysis of their footwear showed that these humble accessories might have played a “vital role” in the Qin army. Two Chinese researchers made     2     copy of the footwear using the shoe-making techniques and materials known to be used by the Qin people when the warriors     3     (build). The study found that the replicas provided the wearers with “a more comfortable, stable and efficient”     4     (walk) experience.

    5     (equal) fascinating are the warriors’ clothes: they were candy-coloured. When the Terracotta Warriors were originally created, they were painted a bright array of reds, blues, and greens,     6     are believed to have matched the colours of the clothing worn by the Qin soldiers. In many cases, the paint has not survived the centuries after the warriors     7    (burn) by fires or soaked in floods, but a few of the warriors have been unearthed     8     their original colouring still largely undamaged. A 2019 study found that the colors were mixed with various protein-based binders, such as egg, animal glues and milk, before     9     (paint) onto the soldiers to help secure the paint.

    10     (reconstruct) based on this research seem to suggest the Qin fashion-at least in the army-was to clash colours (撞色).

Brynn Ann Castle is a student from Muscatine High School in Iowa. At the     1     (invite) of Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School, she, along with 31 classmates and eight teachers, engaged in a study tour in Hebei from April 19 to 22,2024. She visited     2     home of Zhang Xinyi, a senior student at the school.

North China’s Hebei Province and the U. S. state of Iowa     3     (sign) their sister-state relationship in 1983. For over 40 years, Hebei and Iowa have written many praiseworthy tales of friendly exchanges.

In Zhang’s bedroom, pipa, a     4     (tradition) Chinese musical instrument, lying on Zhang’s bed,    5     (particular) attracted Castle’s interest. “This instrument has been in China for 2,000 years. It’s similar     6     a guitar,” Zhang told her. After Castle expressed her desire     7     (have) a try, Zhang shared the playing techniques with her. Soon, a beautiful sound of pipa filled the room. “It’s so     8     (amaze),” said Castle.

Teachers and students from the school held a welcome concert for their American guests,    9     (inspire) by elements such as Tang and Song poetry, and famous Chinese paintings. The American students learned ancient Chinese poems, practiced ping pong, made dumplings, planted friendship trees and visited ancient relics, among others.

The Muscatine High School delegation (代表团) is part of a China-initiated program,    10     will invite 50,000 American youths to China within five years for exchanges and study.

Mind reading is hard. But not impossible. Modern technology can reach inside someone’s head and pull out their     1     (intend).

Decoding (破解) thought usually requires placing sensors directly on or in someone’s brain. Using brain implants, researchers so far     2     (pick) up electrical signals in the brain linked to certain words or letters. This has allowed brain implants to transform thoughts     3     text or speech on a computer. Brain implants have even enabled scientists     4     (turn) the neural firings (神经网络滤镜) associated with a song in someone’s head into real music.

In a recent study, scientists decoded full stories from people’s brains     5     (use) MRI scans. This did not require any brain implants. But building the thought decoder     6     (definite) required many hours of brain scans for each person. What’s more, the system only worked on the persons     7     were willing to have their minds read.

Devices that might let someone secretly read your mind from across the room     8     (be) still a long, long way off Still, it’s clear that mind-reading tech is getting more and more     9     (advance). As it does, scientists are thinking hard about what it would mean to live in     10     world where not even the inside of your head is completely private.

As one of the major schools of opera in China, the Sichuan Opera has a long history. It     1     (date) back to the end of the Ming Dynasty,     2     there were several different forms of popular theatre in the Sichuan area which gradually developed and combined to emerge as the present Sichuan Opera.

Today’s Sichuan opera is a     3     (relative) recent combination of 5 historic theatre styles. It is characterized by solo singing, skillful acting and incredibly funny     4     (comedy). Performers wear brightly colored costumes     5     move to quick and dramatic music. They move their heads up and down or back and forth in an instant,     6     (change) the thin painted masks over their faces. Their movement is so quick and frequent that you will be left amazed at how they could control the masks so skillfully.

    7     (attract) the audience, Sichuan Opera uses vivid, humorous narration, singing, and actions. Its     8     (perform) is always full of wit, humor, lively dialogues, and     9     (pronounce) local flavors.

Most Sichuan Opera repertoires (轮演剧目) are adapted from the Chinese classical novels, mythologies, legends, and folk tales. Statistics show that     10     total number of Sichuan Opera plays is over 2,000.