In China, Laba Festival marks the beginning of preparations for the Spring Festival. Laba Festival reminds one     1     Laba porridge and Laba garlic. But where did this festival come from? How was it celebrated     2     (tradition)? Let’s go back in time and find out.

In the Shang Dynasty or even before, the festival was celebrated as “Lari”. People presented animals as offerings to the gods and ancestors,     3    (pray) for a good harvest in the next year. The tradition was slightly changed during the Han Dynasty     4     people started holding feasts and arranging family reunions during the festival to have fun and value life. The “Lari Festival”     5    (value) highly in the Tang Dynasty. A number of poems     6    (write) in that period of time have shown how the festival was celebrated at that time.

Laba porridge was first mentioned in a book from the Song Dynasty. According to the record, temples in the capital started to cook and serve bowls of Laba porridge with various types of grains and nuts, and sent     7    (they) to the visitors. Ordinary people also cooked this kind of porridge and     8    (distribute) it in their neighborhoods. Since the Qing Dynasty, distribution of Laba porridge at Yonghe Lamasery, popularly known as the Lama Temple, in Beijing is one of the most famous     9     (activity) on the day.

The     10    (celebrate) of Laba Festival gradually spread from the court to the ordinary people during the past thousands of years. It is a part of the tradition now and people share the joys and expectations of the coming year.

In the final of the men’s 100m freestyle at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Chinese athlete Pan Zhanle achieved an astonishing time of 46. 40 seconds, breaking the world record and     1    (successful)winning the gold medal. This is the     2    (nine)gold medal for the Chinese delegation at this Olympics and it is the first time that a Chinese athlete     3    (win)an Olympic championship in the men’s 100m freestyle event.

Foreign media have given high praise to Pan Zhanle’s victory. He has become the fastest man in the world at present and the     4    (shining)Asian star in the swimming pool.

Pan Zhanle’s achievement means a lot. He not only won honor for the Chinese swimming team     5     also proved the strength of Chinese athletes in the short- distance freestyle event. His success inspires more Chinese swimmers     6    (pursue)excellence continuously and win more honors for the country,     7     will certainly help to enhance the international influence and competitiveness of Chinese swimming in the future.

After the competition, Pan Zhanle said that this gold medal is     8     great significance to the country.     9    (face)with the disregard and arrogance of foreign athletes, he responded with strength, using the result of breaking the world record to answer everything and winning the     10    (recognize)of foreign audiences and athletes.

In a testament to the incredible speed of construction in China, the ruins of two historic stone structures on Zhejiang’s Dahuanglong Island have been reborn as a stylish bed-and-breakfast in less than 40 days.

As part of the popular Chinese reality television show Beautiful House, a Beijing-based studio Evolution Design     1     (give) a budget for construction and interior (室内的) design last fall, as well as just two months to complete the transformation. Impressively, the architects finished the project     2     (slight) under budget and in just a total of 31 days.

When the architecture firm first saw the site, the two     3     (exist) structures had fallen into severe ruin with caved-in roofs and weather-beaten walls. Since the television program celebrates adaptive reuse and a back-to-nature conception, the architects restored the two buildings and     4     (add) modern elements, including ample glazing and a new     5     (extend) to better embrace sea views.

The refreshed buildings are used     6     (house) the bedrooms, while the new expansion comprises the combined spaces as well as a rooftop deck and a flight of stairs     7     lessens the site’s approximately 13-foot change in height.

    8     (complete) late last year, the adaptive reuse project covers     9     area of 2,900 square feet and was mainly constructed from locally sourced granite, concrete, and steel. The minimalist interiors are dressed     10     modern furnishings and natural materials.