Shortly after the silk and feather umbrellas became popular in China, their manufacturers managed     1     (discover) a new kind of material from wood paper, enabling the     2     (create) of highly stylized, decorative and lightweight umbrellas.

In addition to providing protection from sun and limited protection from rain, oil-paper umbrellas     3     (view) as symbols of wealth, and power in the past. During the height of umbrella popularity in China, you could easily recognize the owners by the designs and colors of their umbrellas—royal family members used yellow or red colors,     4     the wealthy carried blue. Even in today’s Chinese and Japanese society, umbrellas play     5     important role. They are one of the most essential items     6     (present) to newly -wed brides, symbolizing blessing, protection from evil spirits and wishes    7     more babies.

The beauty of the Chinese paper umbrellas had     8     an impact on worldwide trends that their     9     (elegant) crafted materials and their canopy designs showcasing dragons, flowers, and landscapes quickly traveled via trade routes to distant Europe. Paper umbrellas today represent one of the best -known Chinese traditional exports, with businessmen selling them to     10     (passer-by) on streets worldwide.

Fashion is always a major indicator of popular trends. The new Chinese style has been selected as one of the Top 10 lifestyle trends in a compilation (汇编)    1     (release) by Xiaohongshu.

Besides adding value    2    design, the new Chinese style is enriching people’s eating and drinking habits. So far, the imported coffee business    3     (embrace) the Chinese style and culture to create a new image for coffee as a lifestyle beverage. For instance, Sexy Tea launched Chinese-style Yuenn & Yang Coffee,     4    struck an instant chord with young people.     5     (similar), a Moutai flavored latte by Luckin Coffee created a stir in the market. The integration of Eastern and Western drinks is not simply a    6     (combine), but a new flavor supported by new materials and processes.

“Amid all these market    7     (phenomenon) sparked by the new Chinese style, cultural consumption has also emerged. Scenes such as traditional Chinese style photography, Hanfu outings, ancient city cultural tourism, the popular new Chinese weddings and related fashion have all become    8     (act).” said Hua Hui, associate professor of the School of Media & Communication at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The inclusiveness of Chinese culture    9    the leading role of Chinese aesthetics (美学) have redefined the contemporary world,     10     (give) it a new dimension and a new status.

George Gershwin was one of America’s greatest composers. He was born in 1898. In 1916, when he was eighteen years old, he published his first song. During the next twenty years he    1    (write) more than five hundred songs.

Many of Gershwin’s songs were first written for musical plays     2     (perform) in theatres in New York City. These plays were a popular form of entertainment during the 1920s and 1930s. Many of his songs have remained popular as ever,     3    have been sung and played in every possible way over the years-from jazz to country.

In the 1920s Gershwin agreed to compose something for the concert of Paul Whiteman, who was a jazz musician and orchestra     4    (lead). Gershwin did this because he wanted     5     (support) his idea that jazz was serious music. In a short time, he composed     6     piece of music which he called Rhapsody in Blue. Gershwin himself played the piano at the concert. The audience were     7     (excite) when they heard his music. It made him world-famous and showed that jazz music could be both serious and popular.

In 1928, he wrote An American in Paris, which still     8     (remain) one of his most famous works. George Gershwin died in 1937     9    a very young age, with newspapers all over the world     10    (report) his death on their front pages.

In 2017, a Chinese antique bowl fetched $ 38 million at auction (拍卖)—a new record for Chinese porcelain (瓷器). Though it was described as “a highly important and     1    (extreme) rare” piece of art, it was a shallow bowl that was used in ancient China     2    (clean) calligraphy and paint brushes. Why is Chinese porcelain so expensive? The answer lies     3     the European obsession (痴迷) with Chinese porcelain.

Lars Tharp, a Chinese porcelain specialist, set out to explore why Chinese porcelain was so     4    (value). He traveled to the mountainside in which almost every single Chinese export vase, plate and cup began life in the 18th century—a mountain known as Mount Gaolin, from     5     name we get the word kaolin, or china clay. He saw how the china clay     6    (combine) with another substance, mica, that would turn it into porcelain.

    7    (carry) his own newly-acquired vase, Lars uncovered some secrets of China’s porcelain capital, Jingdezhen. He saw how     8     trade between China and Europe not only changed our idea of what was beautiful but also affected the whole tradition of Chinese aesthetics too.

The porcelain fever has driven high     9    (consume) in the past ten years. Today China’s rising millionaire class are buying back the export china once shipped to Europe. The bowl     10    (sell) at auction shows that the appeal of Chinese porcelain is as strong as ever.

Xinjiang’s Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway (referred to as the Heruo Railway), the “last kilometer” of the world’s first desert railway loop(环线), was     1     (official) put into operation on June 16. The 825-kilometer line connects to the     2     (exist) Geku railway, Kahe railway, and Southern Xinjiang railway, forming a 2,712-km-long loop line circling the Taklimakan Desert.

Approximately 65% of the Heruo Railway winds     3     the southern edge of the Taklimakan, the world’s second-largest shifting sand desert. Thus, it’s not difficult to imagine     4     much effort had to be put in to achieve such a splendid structure. Most of the concrete structural components were-mass-produced in advance in the factory due to a severe water     5     (short) and extreme temperature differences on the site. In some sections with strong wind and shifting sand, designers built bridges to allow the sand and wind to pass beneath them,     6     (reduce) any harm to the line. To protect the track from potential corrosion(腐蚀)     7     (bring) on by sandstorms and to improve     8     (ecology) environment, over 13 million plants     9     (grow) nearby to date. And around 50 million square meters of straw squares have been used to create a green barrier to stabilize the ground.

This newly opened track brings railway service to some new places in southern Xinjiang. It will promote its economic and social development,     10     is important for ensuring harmony, strengthening national security and boosting rural revitalization.

As a sacred thing     1     (love) by Chinese people, the dragon is inclusive in all kinds of traditional Chinese art, like sculpture, painting and embroidery (刺绣). With various meanings, the dragon appears in buildings, porcelains and decorations, and everything you can imagine may     2     (decorate) with dragon elements. All those art works reflect Chinese aesthetics (美学), and Chinese people’s     3     (wise) and love for the dragon.

The dragon is a popular object of drawings and there     4     (be) many famous paintings about the dragon. Ink wash painting is     5     unique style of Chinese painting, especially in ancient China. Therefore, famous dragon paintings which are     6     great value are that style, and the painted dragon is called the ink dragon.

The Nine Dragons Painting is a scroll (画卷) of a dimension of 46.3 cm×1496.4 cm     7     it shows nine dragons with different facial and body looks, soaring in waters and mists. The painting is marked with dragons features and perfectly demonstrates how     8     (power) dragons are. The scroll painting,     9     creator is Chen Rong, is now collected in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Chen Rong is a painter in the thirteenth century and good at     10     (paint) various dragons. Many other painters, such as Cao Buxing and Zhang Zengyao, are also famous for their dragon paintings.

Cheer leading is an organized activity in which the participants cheer for their team    1    a form of encouragement. On high levels, cheer leading is itself a sport, with participants performing dances and complex tricks which are extremely physically    2     (demand). Cheerleaders can often be seen on the sidelines at professional sports games, and organized cheer leading also    3    (exist) in schools, from elementary school all the way through college. Many middle school cheer leading are usually designed for fun, so that cheerleaders become interested in pursuing the sport as they grow    4    (old). Some people look down upon cheer leading as a sport, because it may    5    (initial) appear to be very easy, but cheerleaders at the top level of    6    (compete) are actually very serious athletes, comparable to top-level athletes in other sports.

Many people associate cheer leading with the United States, since the sport is most widely practiced in this nation. The roots of cheer leading began in the 1880s, when crowds at university sports games started shouting out cheers    7    (support) their teams. In 1898, the first documented cheer leading event occurred. Initially, cheer teams were all male, women did not join the sport    8    1923.

The energy and enthusiasm cheerleaders bring into the game make the players feel supported and     9    (motivate) during the game, while at the same time keeping the audience entertained. Cheerleaders set     10    great example of motivation, school spirit, and positive energy both in the classroom and on the field.

Most people dream of living in a big expensive house. But Tim Shea just wanted to find a place     1     could become his home.

This 70-year-old homeless man had spent several years living on the streets until he became the first resident of a village filled     2     3D- printed little houses.

Shea was chosen to be the first person     3    (move) into Community First Village , a 51- acre site in Austin, Texas. The small houses in the village , like Shea’s 400-square-foot home, were built by the Austin-based start-up company ICON.

Life wasn't easy for Shea before     4     (live) in Community First Village. He lived in an RV(野营车) for most of his life. This made     5    (he) stay away from people. “ I think from my     6    (person) experience of my former lifestyle, I developed a shell,” Shea said. “ I didn't feel secure(安心的)and any time I had the opportunity，I would hide.”

Luckily,    7    (thing) changed when Shea got his new house. Since then, he has been meeting new people and making friends. “Now everything I do     8    (be) just the opposite. I have many activities to do every day with others,” Shea said.

The houses     9    (design) by ICON have six different layouts (布局). Shea chose a home with an open floor. This way,     10     will be easier for him to use his wheelchair.

Wang Ping, a photographer and stylist, has “the magic” to turn dried turnip (萝卜干)     1     a beautiful “flower” used to decorate headdresses.

The 26-year-old found there was no headwear that fitted properly with his studio’s costumes. As     2     industrial at major, he decided to make them on his own in 2020. Basically, to craft a headdress there are three steps. “First, I do a design drawing. Then, I prepare all the materials     3     (need) and construct the framework of the headwear,” Wang said. “The last step is     4     (assemble) all materials and paint.”

The basic materials include iron wire, pearls, and fabric, almost all of     5     are “waste” from disused clothes. Among all his work, crafting the headdress has been     6     (relative) simple as it only uses several materials. “I use nail polish to prevent the food from being rotten,” Wang said.

To present the beauty of Chinese headdress, Wang has also learned how to make ancient clothes. Now, he is making clothing     7     (feature) a dragon. “The dragon has thousands of scales in different     8     (size). Every single scale should be embroidered with patterns,” Wang said. His work has gained much     9     (popular), as people are embracing the growing trend of guochao. Up to now, he     10     (attract) over 150,000 followers.

Over and over at the UN climate summit in Glasgow, world leaders have stressed the need     1     (limit) global warming to 1. 5 degrees Celsius. Experts have said crossing the 1. 5 ℃threshold(界限）risks     2     （release) far more severe climate change effects on people, wildlife and ecosystems. Preventing it     3     (require) almost halving global CO₂ emissions(排放) by 2030 from 2010 levels and cutting them to net-zero by 2050.

Already, the world has heated to around 1. 1℃ above pre-industrial levels. Each of the last four decades was     4     (hot) than any decade since 1850. “We never had such a global warming in only a few decades,” said climate     5     (science) Daniela Jacob at the Climate Service Center Germany.

More warming to 1. 5 ℃ and beyond will     6     (worse) such impacts. For example, heatwaves would become both more frequent and more severe. A warmer atmosphere can also hold more moisture(水分), resulting in more extreme rainfall     7     raises flood risks. It also increases evaporation, leading to more intense droughts.

“At 1. 5 ℃, there’s     8     good chance that we can keep most of the Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheet     9     collapsing,” said climate expert Michael Mann at Pennsylvania State University. That would help limit sea level rise to a few     10     (foot) by the end of the century.