Stinky tofu,       1     (know) as chou doufu in China, is a much-loved street food, sold in night markets and roadside stands as     2     delicious snack. It     3     (invent) by a man named Wang Zhihe, who lived in Anhui Province during the Qing dynasty.     4     (original) , Wang was a scholar, but after     5     (fail) his official exam, he decided to sell tofu in the streets of Beijing. One day, he didn’t sell all his tofu, so he cut it     6     pieces and placed them in a jar for storage. When he reopened the jar several days later, he met with a terrible smell,     7     he decided to taste the tofu anyway. Finding it surprisingly delicious, he began to sell this new, smelly tofu at his store. If people wanted to try some, they just followed the smell,     8     was like a burnt sports shoe, and then they could find his store, where it could be found in     9     (vary) forms, including deep-fried, steamed or served in soups. The fans thought the smellier, the better! Nowadays, stinky tofu, featuring in documentaries and international food     10     (show) , has gained popularity around the world.

For a dish that some people regard as a bioweapon, luosifen soup is     1     (surprising) popular and in demand. A specialty of Liuzhou, a city in     2     southwestern Guangxi of China, luosifen soup, or river snail rice noodle soup, was first introduced in the 1970s by people     3     started cooking rice noodles and river snails together.

The street food wasn't really known outside Liuzhou until it was featured on the popular television show, A Bite of China , in 2012. In 2014, the first instant luosifen factory     4    (found). Luosifen really took off when a manager at a luosifen factory live-streamed（直播）how the noodles were made and took orders live,     5    （sell） more than10,000 packets in just two hours.

Luosifen packets were the     6     (popular) food item on Taobao in 2019, with    7     (sale) of more than 28 million packets. Luosi fen is also becoming popular overseas, with exports to more than 100 countries or regions.

There are five tastes of luosifen    8    total. According to Ni Diaoyang, the head of the Liuzhou Luosifen Association     9     a director of the Luosifen Museum," It only takes three bowls     10     (attract) you".

Actress Jia Ling topped the social media topics on the second consecutive day of the Chinese Lunar New Year as her surprising weight loss of 50 kilograms during the shooting of her movie Yolo brought about heated discussions over healthy lifestyle and     1     (allow) some viewers to draw much     2     (inspire) from her tough weight-loss journey.

Topics related to Jia’s surprising weight loss were dominating (主导) Weibo like “Jia Ling     3     (total) shocked me,” as netizens discussed whether it was time to develop a more     4     (balance) habit starting from the Spring Festival. “Her achievement is quite inspiring and it deserves (应得) a movie ticket,”said moviegoer Li     5     regularly visits the gym to lose weight.

Jia noted that the movie is not about boxing or losing weight,     6     rather is a heart-warming story about “learning to love yourself.”     7     (finish) the filming of the movie, Jia had to increase her weight by 20 kilograms before starting to lose weight in only six months.

However, not everyone agreed on Jia’s weight loss program. “Not everyone can manage to shoulder the burden (重担) of     8    (lose) 50 kilograms in just six months,” said Jiang, a fitness expert. “To lose weight     9     a healthy way, we need to set several reachable short-term     10     (goal). It would be better to work out a schedule and stick to it.”

Layue falls on the     1     (twelve) month of the traditional Chinese calendar. The Chinese character “La” holds historical significance,     2     (appear) in ancient texts such as Book of Changes and Rites of Zhou.     3     (original), “La” meant “cured meat”. Layue is also the month with the richest traditional customs in one year.

The eighth day of Layue marks the Laba Festival, whose custom on this day is to enjoy Laba porridge. It is a delightful     4     (mix) of grains, peanuts, chestnuts, red dates, lotus seeds, and other ingredients (配料), all of     5     are mixed together to make it a main course of the Laba Festival. In the northern part of China, there is a saying, “Children, don’t be too eager; right after Laba, the new year is     6     its way.” Celebrating Laba means the approach of the Chinese New Year.

The Kitchen God Festival is a widespread custom     7     (observe) across the country. On this day, people would hang images of the Kitchen God     8     his wife around the kitchen stove (炉子). Today, many rural areas still uphold this tradition.

Layue     9     (regard) as preparation for the upcoming Spring Festival. If the Spring Festival is considered the most joyful celebration of the year, many would agree that the joy, noise and expectation of Layue are no     10     (little) significant than the main event.

Photography is a very popular art form. A camera is an     1     (importance) holiday item. But over the last 10 years, photography     2     (become) much     3     (popular). It’s easy to capture still and moving pictures of places of interest, and it’s also easy     4     (show) off these pictures on social media.    5     (arm) with their smart phones, tourists, this year more than ever, are capturing the beauty of our planet.

Of course, travel companies have caught on to this. Trekksoft has     6     example of photo-tourism from the United States, a land with a vast choice of beautiful     7    (location). Antelope Slot Canyon Tours in Arizona specializes in tours of the state’s famous canyons,     8     gives photographers the chance to capture them on camera. Most of the tourists are     9     (actual) able to make beautiful images     10     just their mobile phones.

Home chefs long for it. Restaurants turn it into new recipes. It’s chili (辣椒). The Chinese condiment (调料), which includes chili peppers, oil and others, is a kitchen powerhouse known for its     1     (difference) purposes. But how did the must-have get started?

Chilis weren’t always in China, says Brian Dott, a history professor at Whitman College and the author of The Chile Pepper in China: A Cultural Biography.     2     (original) from Central and South America, the plant was unknown in China until around the 16th century, when the rapid     3     (grow) in exploration and trade brought chilis to China.

The first     4     (write) record of chili in China dates from 1591. Gao Lian, a playwright in the Ming Dynasty, wasn’t all that excited about the new condiment, Dott says of his account. Instead, he used it     5     a decorative plant.

While elite (精英) Chinese admired chili peppers in     6     (they) decorative gardens, most people     7     (begin) eating and enjoying the fruit of the plant. Chili peppers were passed from person to person and raised in small crops, says Dott,     8     (fall) into the hands of skilled farmers     9     developed even better chilis over time. These chilis — and the condiment made by frying them in oil — became a must for cooking all over China. Finally, they have become so common that they were considered part of     10     nation’s symbol.

When Renee Butts was little, her dream was to become a volunteer firefighter because her father was one. Though her father’s work was hard and full of danger, he never made a     1     (complain) about it and fell in love     2     the job quickly. Sadly, at the age of 14, one afternoon Renee returned home, only     3     (tell) that her beloved father had passed     4     and she was never able to do volunteer work with him due to her dad’s death. However, Renee’s story didn’t end there. She was so determined and     5     (energy) a girl and never gave up, which made her dream a reality.

Now Renee, who used to be an astronomer, is a member of the Carme Fire Department now, where she is required to be an Emergency Medical Technician. Once a reporter asked her, “I wonder if all the skills necessary to act as a firefighter have been mastered by you so far.” She replied, “I seem to have. Now a summary     6     (write) last week about my training will be published tomorrow.” The reporter     7     (make) a response, “You must have trained hard and     8     (effective) in the past, haven’t you?” Renee should also be ready to deal with any emergency, like fighting a fire, dealing with a car accident or helping someone who is sick.

Asked what the best part of her job was, Renee replied, “Helping people and saving lives.” I think that shows signs of being a true hero. Renee says that to some extent, her job is frightening at times, but extremely exciting. “To tell you     9     truth, the worst part of my job is that I see deaths and serious injuries. Actually, sometimes people die in an accident and some fires and large amounts of property (财产) are lost, for     10     I am very sorry.”