Li Kang,     1     high school student, lives in Hebei Province. Today is his first day at Senior High school. He     2    (feel) that his new school is very good and classrooms are     3    (amaze) since all of them have     4    (computer). He likes his English teacher, a woman     5    (call) Ms Shen. Ms Shen tells them reading comprehension is important and encourages     6    (they) to speak a lot in class. Li Kang and his classmates are interested in Ms Shen’s teaching method,     7     is completely different from that of the teachers at Junior High school.

Today, after Ms Shen gave students instruction, they introduced themselves in class. Ms Shen also helps students improve their spelling     8     handwriting. They do spelling games in a fun way. After this class, Ms Shen ask them to write a     9    (describe) of the street where they live. Most of them look forward to     10    (do) it.

Hongbao is commonly seen across China. But what are these little red     1    (envelope) stuffed with money really for, and what do they mean? Hongbao is a gift of money in a red envelope. They are given on some important occasions, such as Chinese New Year, birthdays, and weddings in China as a way     2     (send) good wishes. The color red symbolizes energy, joy, and good luck in Chinese culture. Traditionally, red envelopes     3     (decorate) with beautiful Chinese calligraphy and symbols.     4    (actual), the important meaning of red envelopes is the red paper, not the money inside. Wrapping lucky money in red envelopes is expected to bring more     5     (happy) and blessings to the receivers. When it comes to receiving the hongbao, remember to always receive your hongbao with both hands. It is     6     (polite) to accept a red envelope with just one hand. When you receive a red envelope, you should express thanks     7     greet the giver with a pleasing phrase. Finally, never open your red envelope in front of the person     8     just gave it to you. You should do it     9     private or when you get home. In recent years, it     10     (become) popular to send electronic hongbao via WeChat as a greeting. Sending digital red envelopes has become a new way to greet friends or relatives that cannot physically be reached during the Chinese New Year period.

Jack,     1     was a ten-year- old boy, didn’t like doing any work. He had to go to school, of course, but he didn’t study hard there and tried     2     (do) little work. His father and mother were both doctors and they     3     (hope) that their son would become a doctor, too, when he grew up.

But one day Jack said     4     (happy) to his mother, “When I finish school, I want to be a     5     (clean).” What? his mother asked,     6     (feel) very surprised. “That’s not a good job. Why do you want to do the job?” his mother said. “    7     I would only need to work one day a week,” Jack answered at once. “Only one day a week?” his mother said. “What do you mean? And how do you know about it?” “Well,” Jack answered, “I know that the cleaners come to work     8     Thursday every week, because I only see     9     (they) that day.” And then his mother laughed and said, “But     10     cleaners go to work in other streets on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.”

Layue is regarded as a preparatory phase for the upcoming Spring Festival. It is the     1     (twelve) month of the traditional Chinese calendar.

    2     (fall) on January 18 this year, Laba Festival was traditionally     3     occasion to honor their ancestors, and pray to deities, heaven, and earth for a good harvest and good luck. The last lunar month is called “la” in Chinese, and “eight’’ is pronounced “ba” in Chinese. This is     4     the name of the festival comes from. The custom     5     this day is to eat Laba porridge, cooked with a mix of eight ingredients, as eight is a     6     (fortune) number in Chinese culture.     7     (it) recipe varies across China depending on regional availability. Nowadays,     8     (boil) with sugar for at least four hours, Laba Porridge is regarded as a nutritious food. Distribution of Laba porridge at Yonghe Lamasery (雍和宫) in Beijing is one of the most famous activities. Today, waiting     9     (eager) in queues at the temples, people     10     (expect) to not just share a bowl of porridge, but be a part of the tradition and share the joys and expectations of the coming year.

On June 29, 2021, Zhang Guimei     1     (award) the highest honour of the Communist Party of China — the July 1 Medal for her     2     (value) contribution to rural education.

After her husband passed away because of cancer, she moved to Huaping county in Lijiang. Seeing the poverty in the mountains and the tragedies     3     had happened to young girls, she was     4     (determine) to find an effective method to help them out. She figured out the major problem was education. Thus, she wanted to set up     5     free girls-only high school. At first, she was questioned by the people there but she never gave up and began to raise money. She even begged for funds to establish the school.     6     (fortunate), her story was known to the authorities in Huaping and Lijiang who later funded the construction of the school.

    7     (set) up China’s first free senior high school for girls, Zhang has helped many local girls from impoverished (rural families achieve their dreams. She never hesitates     8     (aid) her students even though she suffers     9     more than 20 diseases due to years of heavy work and stress.

After years of hard work, the school has made great     10     (achievement). In the past fifteen years, as many as 2,000 poor girls from the school have entered universities or colleges. As a result, their life has been changed.

For many years, human beings have been trying to conquer nature, but never succeeded. What’s worse, nature has got angry. It often shows     1     (it) power and teaches human beings different lessons in various     2     (way), such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, sandstorms, typhoons, droughts, landslides, tornadoes, and volcanoes. Any of them can cause terrible disasters. For example, on March 11, 2011,     3     huge earthquake struck Japan,     4     (cause) a terrible tsunami. Many cars, ships and buildings     5     (ruin) by a ten-metre-high wall of water. Thousands of people were confirmed dead. The total energy released by the quake was equivalent to the explosion of 6.7 trillion tons of TNT,     6     is about a thousand times the total power of all the world’s nuclear weapons. Another event was the “huge volcanic eruption in Iceland” in 2010. It caused enormous damage to air travel across western and northern Europe because     7     the large quantities of volcanic ash. All of these show how     8     (power) nature is.

Compared with the great power of nature, human beings are so weak and even so helpless in face of the destruction caused by natural disasters. It would be unwise of us     9     (fight) against or even try to conquer nature. On the contrary, we should try to learn how to live with nature     10     (peaceful).

Sharifkhuja has loved Chinese movies and culture since childhood. His father is also a huge fan of China. Before his     1    (graduate) from high school, Sharifkhuja’s father thought that his son was an     2    (ambition) person and suggested that he go to China to learn Chinese in the future. Having studied Chinese for two years in Tajikistan, Sharifkhuja finally came to China     3    (pursue) his dream.

Up to now, Chinese language and calligraphy     4    (become) part of his life. In his first calligraphy class, Sharifkhuja said that writing with brushes was     5     amazing experience, which could help him feel the spirit of Chinese culture. Besides,     6     he enjoys most is traditional Chinese music. Sharifkhuja is willing to share his experience in China with     7    (he) family and friends and introduce Tajik culture to his Chinese pals.

Having stayed in China for many years, he hopes to work in the embassy (大使馆)    8     a cultural ambassador between the two countries. Meanwhile, he also plans to return home as a Chinese teacher because     9     (use) the skills he acquired in China to improve the education of his motherland is one of his dreams.

However, no matter what Sharifkhuja chooses, his future will be     10    (close) related to Chinese.

Zu Ti of the Jin Dynasty was a man who had with great ambition. When he was young, he had a good friend     1     (name) Liu Kun. They had such a deep friendship     2     they stayed together every day and got up at the same time every morning.

One day, when they were sleeping. Zu Ti heard the rooster crowing (鸡鸣) . He woke up Liu Kun and said, “How about     3     (get) up to play swords (剑) as soon as we heard the rooster crowing from now on?” Liu Kun was still     4     (sleep) . But he agreed with him     5     (joyful) . From then on, they got up and played swords once the rooster began crowing. They kept their word and never gave up no matter     6     cold in winter or hot in summer. Hard work     7     (pay) off. After a long period of hard study and training, they finally became the all-rounder. And they both did excellent jobs to their country.

The idiom “to rise with the rooster” teaches us that with ambition and hard work,     8     (succeed) is possible. When we can discover our shortcomings     9     time, it is not too late to try. But if you are not willing     10     (work) hard, you will not be able to achieve a career after all.

Learning languages has many advantages: feeling confident when travelling abroad, making friends     1    (international), being able to read books in the original(原版的), and a lot more, like studying and working in other     2    (country). Most people live under the stereotype(刻板印象)that they lose their learning abilities with age. However, if faced     3     a challenge when there is no other way except to learn the new foreign language, adult people can show great results. Before     4    (decide)how to learn a new language, the first thing is to decide in which situation the language is to be used.

If the target is, for example,    5    (travel)or find new business at some international events, a course focusing on speaking practices is recommended(推荐). The     6    (base)vocabulary and conversational structures(结构), studied and practised heavily during a short period of time, may lead to the needed result, which might be the ability to communicate on the streets or support     7     small business talk. Usually the two or three months of study     8    (be)enough to start communicating. However, if brought back shortly to the usual environment, the person might lose the majority of knowledge if there would not be any supporting practice afterwards. Unfortunately, without practical usage     9     further development, the language abilities may go away as easily as they came. The language cannot     10    (learn)once and forever.

The lion dance is a     1     (tradition) dance performed during Chinese New Year. It is     2     (wide) believed that it will bring good luck.

Two dancers dress up as the lion. One dancer holds the large head of the brightly colored costume and the other dancer is the body. The dancers have to be very fit as they perform lots of moves. They dance to music     3     (play) by drums, gongs and cymbals. A performer     4     is dressed as a laughing Buddha sometimes joins the lion dance. He     5     (wear) a longrobe (袍子) and teases the lion with a fan to make it perform tricks.

People will often hang the head of a lettuce (生菜) from ceilings or doorways. The lion will go in search     6     these. Sometimes, red envelopes with money inside     7     (hide) in the lettuce. The lion pretends to eat the lettuces and money. The     8    (leaf) are then thrown into the crowd for good fortune. The lion dance ends with       9     message of good luck written on a scroll, unfolding from the lion’s mouth. Firecrackers are set off     10     (frighten) away any evil beings.