There’s     1     unofficial holiday you should know: leap day and leap year! A leap year is a calendar year that has an extra day,     2     (compare) with our common year. The point of leap years is to help adjust our Gregorian calendar (阳历) to the solar calendar, and make sure we celebrate solar events like the spring and autumn equinoxes (二分点) with some regularity every year. But why is Feb. 29 called leap day? Well, because Feb. 29 is our extra day!

Even     3     (add) an extra day to February every four years doesn’t quite do the trick,     4     is why scientists sometimes call for a leap second, like they did in 2015 on June 30 at 11: 59: 60 pm.

How do you remember if it’s a leap year? Simple: If the last two numbers of the year are divisible by four (for example, 2016, 2020, 2024...) then it’s a leap year. Century years are the     5     (except) to this rule. They must be divisible by 400 to be leap years-so, 2000 and 2400 are leap years, but 2100 will not be one. As a bonus, U.S. leap years almost always coincide with election years.

According to the World Heritage Encyclopedia, in the 1800s, British-born James Milne Wilson, who later became the     6     (eight) premier (总理) of Tasmania, was born on a leap day and died on a leap day too! Wilson died on Feb. 29, 1880, on his “17th” birthday, or     7     (age) 68 in regular years.

Rarer still is the possibility that three children in the same family would be born     8     three consecutive leap days, but that’s     9     (exact) what happened with the Henriksen family of Norway. Heidi Henriksen     10     (bear) on Feb. 29, 1960, her brother Olav four years later, on Feb. 29, 1964, and baby Leif-Martin four years after that, on Feb, 29, 1968.

With the tourism    1    (develop), people are becoming increasingly concerned    2    the environment. Here in our city, there is a heated discussion about whether a hotel should    3    (build) at White Beach. The owner of the company thinks the hotel would attract more tourists,     4    will help the local economy.    5    , the local people worry that constructing the hotel is not eco-friendly,     6    (particular) the turtles. Admitting the various    7    (benefit) from the hotel, they still have many concerns about the surroundings     8     they have been living for many years. It is    9    unavoidable problem that increased tourist numbers will consume more natural resources, at the same time, more waste and pollution    10    ( release).

Imagine biting into a juicy burger that was produced without killing animals. Meat grown in a lab is turning that     1     (imagine) into a reality. Several companies are developing lab-grown beef, pork, poultry and seafood. And the field is attracting millions in funding.

If widely used. lab-grown meat, also     2     (call) clean meat, could reduce much of the cruel treatment of animals     3     are raised for food. It could also reduce the environmental costs of meat production     4     (great).

The meat     5     (produce) by first taking a muscle sample (样本) from an animal. Scientists collect stem cells from the sample and multiply (使繁殖) them to form more muscles. It’s said that one muscle sample from a cow can produce enough meat     6     (make) 80,000 hamburgers.

Many companies say they expect to have products for sale within the next few years. But clean meat will have to overcome     7     number of difficulties, such as reducing the cost and proving the safety     8     the meat before it appears on the market. The good news is that despite all these     9     (challenge), the clean meat companies are keeping trying. If they can succeed, clean meat could make our lifestyle     10     (green) and more ethical than before.

Hanfu, or Han-style clothing, one of the     1     (old) types of clothing in the world, is becoming popular again. Walking in downtown areas or scenic spots in the Chinese mainland, one can’t miss the sight of girls and boys elegantly     2     (dress) in Han-style clothing posing for photographs with either     3     oil paper umbrella or a circular silk fan in hand.

Actually, the clothing style of Chinese Hanfu kept changing over the centuries due to the     4     (change) in people’s taste, requirements and the availability of new clothing materials. However, the development of Han-style clothing came to a sudden stop, when the Manchus, after establishing the Qing Dynasty,     5     (essential) banned people from wearing Hanfu.

For a long time, Hanfu was worn only by some brides and grooms during weddings and a few other special occasions. Attracted by the elegance and beauty of Hanfu, a few brave youngsters began to wear Han-style clothes a decade ago     6     (take) photos in ancient towns. They immediately drew the attention of the public and the media,     7     in turn prompted (促使) others to try on Hanfu.

Thanks to the country’s emphasis     8     cultural confidence, Han-style clothing has been developing into a trend. Some cities     9     (hold) Hanfu festivals or Hanfu fashion shows so far. The     10     (grow) popularity of Hanfu has also fueled public interest in other traditional cultural elements, Chinese painting, calligraphy, kung fu and so on.

Zhang Xuehua is     1     artist of paper cutting, who works attentively in her workshop in Ma’anshan city, east China’s Anhui Province. As she turns the paper, her scissors fly and a paper-cut work is “born”.

    2     (normal), paper cutting craftsmen first draw patterns on paper and then cut them into outlines, but Zhang has a special     3    (capable) to cut without sketching (画素描) patterns ahead of time. She can turn a piece of paper the size of a handkerchief     4     a lifelike paper cutting work in less than one minute. Her works show a mixture of paper cutting styles in northern and southern China.

Zhang     5    (learn) the craft from her grandmother. “In the beginning, I was not able to cut well, but in time I could create little frogs, butterflies, flowers and other works,” Zhang said. “Paper cutting created countless beautiful childhood     6    (memory) for me. ”

The walls of Zhang’s studio are covered with work, large and small, with subjects     7    (range) from the twelve zodiac signs to daily items. The work Zhang remains proudest of is the Folk Girl series,     8     now sits in the National Art Museum of China’s permanent collection.     9    (carry) forward the traditional craft of paper cutting, Zhang often offers paper cutting classes for free at residential communities, schools and museums, well     10    (recognize) by young people who want to understand the living heritage.

A significant part of daily life in China centers on tea. Tea and all its six primary     1     (category) — green, yellow, dark, white, oolong, and black — all originated in China. The earliest credible evidence comes from ancient plant remains     2     (find) in 2016 in Xi’an, indicating that tea was grown at least 2, 100 years ago.

Today, the country has over 2, 000 varieties of tea,     3     (differ) in taste, aroma, and purpose. According to     4     UN report, about 6 billion cups of tea are consumed every day. In comparison, only 2 billion cups of coffee are made per day.

Generation after generation of tea makers experimented     5     different brewing (冲泡) techniques, leaves, and ceremonies, resulting in today’s diverse tea culture. The inclusion of the country’s traditional tea-making process on the UNESCO list will     6     (obvious) generate practical benefits for tea makers in the country and across the world because more resources are provided     7     (protect) such millennia-old tea culture and technical practices. As additional attention     8     (bring) to this traditional technique, the Chinese tea industry will further boost its growth.

As one of China’s     9     (old) cultural practices, traditional tea processing techniques represent the spirit of modesty and harmony. No matter your preference for green and dark tea, with milk or without, Chinese tea isn’t just brews. Instead, it is a bridge     10     connects different cultures and peoples.

7 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The education training company New Oriental set a trend on China’s social media platforms recently, after its teachers started live-streaming the selling of agricultural products, books and daily     1    (necessity) using both Chinese and English. Anchors (主播) combine useful English     2     the selling of products, such as providing the English translation of the product and commonly used sentences.

The anchors’ excellent     3    (pronounce) and grammar have earned the channel an enthusiastic fan base and attracted millions of views. The     4    (knowledge) and oftentimes amusing approaches to selling products have led to “netizens”     5    (post) comments such as “It’s a good way to spend money where you get a product and also some extra knowledge”.

New Oriental used to be     6     tutoring giant in the domestic market, but it faced the     7    (mass) challenge of transforming its business model after authorities tightened up the management of off-campus tutoring in July, 2021.

The company’s founder, Yu Minhong,     8    (say) in a letter to the company’s employees on January 1 that the firm experienced great difficulty in its financial year of 2022.

The     9    (late) figures from Economic View, a financial media outlet of China News Service, show that the Dongfang Zhenxuan account     10    (have) 1.57 million new followers by last Friday.

Chinese rescue teams helped save at least six people, including a pregnant woman and three children, in two separate     1    (operate) in earthquake-stricken Turkey on Thursday.

The Zhejiang Rescue Team of Ramunion said that its members worked with Turkish soldiers and local rescuers to free five survivors, including three children, from a     2    (heavy) damaged building at around 1:30 pm local time in Iskenderun, a port city in southern Hatay province.

In Antakya in the country’s south, the Chinese official rescue team, together     3     local rescuers, carried a pregnant woman out of the     4    (danger) ruins of a building at around 1:30 am, according to China’s Ministry of Emergency Management.     5    (save) the woman, rescuers and technical experts, led by Zhao Yang, deputy head of the Chinese rescue team, went into     6     ruins to survey the conditions before working out a rescue plan.

Chinese rescuers and experts participated in the entire rescue,     7    was supported by equipment     8    (bring) to Turkey by the Chinese team, the ministry said.

Seven rescuers from the Zhejiang Rescue Team of Ramunion, an NGO from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, arrived in Turkiye at 1:30 pm on Wednesday.

They immediately     9    (head) to Iskenderun after teaming up with a nine-member local logistics (后勤) support team. The Ramunion workers threw     10    (they) into the rescue attempt despite temperatures dropping to -8℃, according to the NGO.

It’s reported that about 10% of the global population do not have clean water. The water crisis has serious effects on people’s health, education, and     1     (finance) situation and on the stability of their community.

Water     2     (use) to keep clean and keeping clean is the key to good health. For example, a simple cut to a child’s leg can be treated by washing it, to avoid infections.     3     clean water, that simple cut can become a serious medical condition.

Children who spend a lot of time collecting water are less likely     4     (attend) full time education. Chances are that those students aren’t able to study to the level     5     (require) to go to college or university. The problem is     6     (particular) bad for girls, who tend to be the family’s members     7     (walk) a long way to collect water.

Low standards of education make     8     much more difficult for people to get jobs that are both well-paid and safe. If there is no money from     9     (employ), it’s difficult for communities to develop their water supply and sanitation (卫生).

Water is often a source of argument and even wars. The stability of a whole region or even a country can be in danger because of a shortage of clean water. To decrease the influence of the water crisis, the United Nations has a Sustainable Development Goal     10     specifically refers to water and sanitation.

David Jones Jr. loves outdoor activities. One day, he    1     (fish) when he heard screams coming from the river. Within seconds, he found a boy floating in the middle of the river. “I had that sense of urgency that I needed to drop     2     I was doing and kayaked (划⽪艇) over there,” said David.

    3     was David’s experience in law enforcement (执⾏) that helped him to stay calm and make the proper decision during the serious situation. He quickly saved the child and took him back to     4     (safe) 300 yards away. In an interview, David said, “That kid is really strong and should     5     (praise). For him, to scream as loudly as he could in that matter allowed him     6     (get) help.”

The boy later told the policeman that he got separated     7     his dad’s sailboat and drifted (漂流) away. And he had     8     (confident) told his parent before that he would swim back to shore, but he was not able to do so due to the     9     (power) wind and waves. He hoped other swimming     10     (lover) could learn a lesson from his experience.