The awards ceremony for the Fifth Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)Short Video Competition took place in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. With     1    theme of “Open up a New Chapter Together through Connectivity”,the competition centered on the global practices of China’s modernization drive     2    highlighted the universal understanding of the BRI’s spirit and China’s strong desire to build a community with a     3    (share)future for mankind.

2023 marked the 10th anniversary of the BRI’s launch.By collecting short video stories from both builders and beneficiaries(受益者),the competition     4    (allow)audiences to grasp the key part of     5    (develop),social progress,cultural integration(融合),and people’s dreams in countries economic along the route.It also recreated     6    (memory) moments of genuine exchanges among people.

Among the over 1,000 entries from nearly 100 countries, 99 final winners were announced.“    7    one of the leading corporations engaged in the BRI, Dongfang Electric Corporation    8    (commit) to sustainable, high-standard development and people’s well-being since 2012,” noted Song Zhiyuan, a director of the company.“We’ve offered green energy equipment and services to over 100 countries and regions,    9    (project)a responsible image of China. Moving forward, we’ll grasp the opportunities to remain at the forefront of BRI’s joint construction and provide more top-level green energy     10    (global).”

Six international couples from China, the United States, India, Greece and Lebanon participated     1     a themed event in Chongqing’s Rongchang district on the traditional Lantern Festival, which falls on Saturday this year.

The group took part in many activities     2     (joyful), such as making yuanxiao, solving riddles, and making lanterns     3     (dress) in hanfu that is traditional Chinese-style clothing.

“It is my     4     (two) visit here,” said 44-year-old Georgios Marketakis from Greece. “I like everything I see here.”

“There are so many glorious folk cultures in China     5     need to be promoted,” said Marketakis’s wife, Chen Linxia, 38, a local resident. The couple said they had enjoyed another     6     (impress) traditional festival in Rongchang. In another folk experience, Marketakis made a wall hanging by plant dyeing (染色) and     7     (draw) on a piece of Rongchang xiabu, a traditional handmade textile (纺织品). The weaving techniques     8       (list) as a national cultural intangible heritage (非物质文化遗产)in 2008.

Their handwork was coached by 32-year-old local Tang Yi     9     her husband, Ivan Andrew Chen, 35, who is from India. To spread the xiabu culture, the couple are now settling in Rongchang.

Rongchang, one of historical     10     (city) in Southwest China, claims three national cultural intangible heritages, including Rongchang xiabu, Rongchang pottery and Rongchang folding fan products.

3 . 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 ecological environment in the Sanjiangyuan National Park in northwest China’s Qinghai Province         1     (continue) to improve since the establishment of the national park in 2021, with water conservation capacity increasing by more than 6 percent annually, according to a newly    2    (release) report on the park’s development.

The park delivers over 60 billion cubic meters of high-quality freshwater downstream every year,    3     the grassland coverage and grass yield in the park have increased by over 11 percent and 30 percent    4     (respective), according to the report.

    5    (locate) on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Sanjiangyuan region serves as the headwaters for the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers, and is known as the “Water Tower of Asia”. In 2021, the Sanjiangyuan National Park, along with other four parks,     6     (list) as China’s first batch of national parks. The park has a total area of 190,700 square km, with an average altitude (海拔) of 4,700 meters.

According to Losang Tsering,     7    is an engineer of the Sanjiangyuan National Park Administration, the park has prioritized ecological restoration over the years,     8     (focus) on ecosystems such as glaciers and snow-capped mountains, high-altitude grasslands and meadows.

The Sanjiangyuan region is a typical    9    (represent) of the alpine (高山的) ecosystem and serves    10    an alpine biological germplasm bank, making it a crucial ecological security barrier in China.

What you need to know about the sandstorm in Beijing

A: sandstorm swept across Beijing and several northern areas in China on Monday.Where did the sandstorm come from? How long will it last? Lets take     1     look.

Q: Where did the sandstorm come from?

A: The sandstorm originated in the Gobi Desert areas of Mongolia. Strong winds picked up the sand and dust,     2     were then transported southward and eastward at high altitudes and eventually settled in downstream (顺流的) are as such as Beijing,    3     (result) in the sandstorm.

Q: When will the dusty weather     4     (weak)? Should we expect more sandstorms this week?

A: According to the National Meteorological Center, the sandstorm     5     (moderate) starting from next Tuesday.

Q: Why are sandstorms in North China so frequent this year?

A: There are multiple     6     (reason).The cold air activity has remained active in March     7     April. Mongolian cyclones (旋风) and cold fronts (冷锋) have transported sand and dust from the sand source areas downstream to even more southern and farther areas.

Q: Is a yellowish sky always an indicator of a sandstorm?

A: Not exactly. Only when the sandy and dusty weather reaches a certain     8     (intense) can it be called a sandstorm.

Q: What precautions to take in dusty weather?

A: Stay indoors as much as possible, and keep windows and doors closed. Use air purifiers, sprinkle water, use humidifiers, and mop the floor with a wet cloth     9     (remove) dust.Wear masks when going outdoors, and clean your face and nose when returning home; When driving, reduce speed, turn on headlights, and drive     10     caution.

Bhutan’s snow leopard (雪豹) population     1     (increase) by 39.5% since 2016, according to a new survey. Findings from over 10,000 camera trap images confirmed the presence of 134 snow leopards in the country, an     2     (impress) jump from the baseline of 96 snow leopards in 2016.

    3     survey showed promising evidence that Bhutan’s conservation efforts impact snow leopard populations     4     (positive). It involved 310 camera traps across 2.2 million acres of the big cat’s habitat.

“With less than 3% of the habitat surveyed, there are serious knowledge gaps in the population status of snow leopards,” said Dechen Dorji, Senior Director for Asia, Wildlife Conservation. “A 39.5% increase in Bhutan’s snow leopard population is remarkable and calls for the urgent need to     5     (strength) the population assessment efforts. These amazing     6     (creature) deserve our continued care and protection from illegal hunting, habitat destruction, and conflicts with people. Finding effective co-existence measures between local communities     7     snow leopards must continue to be at the top of the list.”

Although the news is uplifting, the species is still listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It     8     (threaten) globally by habitat losses, food shortage, conflicts with humans, and the climate crisis,     9     (request) continued protection to address these threats,     10     also affect the other wildlife in their habitat.

KUNMING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Dai ethnic group in southwest China’s Yunnan Province has been busy     1     (celebrate) its New Year, with local Dai people and crowds of tourists observing a grand water-splashing festival. After being suspended (暂停) for three years because of the COVID-19 pandemic,     2     traditional water-sprinkling festival has come back.

The three-day festival, from Thursday to Saturday,     3     (regard) as the most important festival observed by the Dai people. During the festival, local people dress up and splash (泼) water on each other as a way     4     (express) good wishes and wash away all the bad luck from the previous year, thus beginning a new year of     5     (happy) and good fortune.

The water festival is celebrated by over 1.3 million Dai people living in China, mainly in Yunnan’s Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture     6     in the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture. The Dai people live in the rich lowland agricultural     7     (area) along the major rivers such as the Mekong River. Their culture is much like Thai culture, and they are     8     (close) related to Thai. Along     9     lowland rice agriculture, the Dai grow rubber trees and specialty teas, especially the expensive Pu’er variety.

    10     (vary) activities were also staged during the festival, such as colorful dragon boat races and spectacular dance and musical performances.

Dumpling is a Chinese cuisine. Actually, the tradition of eating dumplings during winter solstice has its     1     (originate) in early times.

It is said that dumplings were invented by Zhang Zhongjing, a     2     (fame) physician from the Eastern-Han Dynasty. He was once     3     official in Changsha.When he returned home for private life, he saw people lived an     4    (extreme) hard life and that their ears were red with cold in the snowing winter. He was sad and let his follower cook     5     (drive) out the chill with mutton, hot pepper and some medicine. Zhang let him boil them first and cut them up, then wrap them with flour. After     6     (boil) them, he gave the medicinal food to the people there on the day of the winter solstice. Zhang Zhongjing called it “cold dispelling dumpling soup”. By eating this kind of ear-like food, people’s ears     7     (cure).

Thereafter, every winter solstice Zhang Zhongjing made “cold dispelling dumpling soup” in order to prevent and cure ailments     8     (cause) by the cold. Then there became a saying that     9     you eat dumplings during the winter solstice, then you won’t freeze your ears off.

Afterwards, Zhang Zhongjing died on the day of winter solstice.     10     honor of him, every household makes dumplings every year on the day of the winter solstice.

“China would always provide important opportunities for global development, and the nation would remain committed to     1    (drive)economic globalization in a more open, balanced and win-win direction,” an official said on the sixth China International Import Expo(CIIE)on Sunday. In his speech on the CIIE, which opened in Shanghai, he mentioned that various nations should     2    (joint)seek development in the sluggish(迟缓的)global economic recovery.

“The CIIE, first     3    (hold)in 2018, serves as a platform for international procurement(采购), investment promotion and people-to-people exchanges,     4     has contributed to encouraging a new development pattern and global economic growth,” the official noted. He also expressed the     5    (expect)that the annual expo could function as a gateway to the new development pattern and presented new opportunities to the world with China’s fresh development. Additionally, he said the expo should fully play     6    (it)role as a platform for facilitating high-level opening-up and make the Chinese market     7     major one shared by the world, so that the whole world could benefit     8     win-win cooperation.

The official also     9    ( stress)Beijing’s efforts to advance opening-up with greater market opportunities,     10    (far)creating immense economic growth for the world.

As the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated nationwide, residents making the boats in Fangzhuang Village, Fujian Province, have been working     1     (tireless) for more than a month to meet     2     (order) from across the country. Dragon boats have been made in the village     3     (situate) in Minhou County, for over 700 years.

Fang Shaohuang,72, proudly     4     (carry) on his family’s boat making techniques as a third generation inheritor (继承人). He and his five brothers,     5     own a boat making factory, learned these skills from an early age.

“We stick to the family tradition of     6     (make) these boats to a strict standard. The procedure is complicated,     7     our patient work results in fine products,”   he said.

Among the family’s     8       (four) generation, only his nephew Fang Jianwei has inherited the techniques. The 34-year-old is also the youngest such inheritor in the village.

“The work is not particularly     9     (profit), but I’m determined to find dedicated apprentices (学徒) who can carry the profession forward,” said Fang Jianwei. He hopes that in the future the village will act     10     a base to showcase the evolution and history of dragon boats in China.

You know how disappointed it can be if you are not able to communicate with the     1     (local) when you are traveling, and you might think learning a new language is a tough task.

But fear not! We figured out     2     (exact) how many words you need to learn to speak a language well.

A group linguists have created a test     3     (see) how many words you know in English. There are 200,000+ words in the English language, but the test only     4     (involve) 50 0f them. You may not understand all of the 50 words. The linguists believe that if you multiply     5     number of words out of 50 that you understand by 500, you’ll almost know your English vocabulary.

A professor has found that native speakers of a language know 15,000 to 20,000 lemmas (词目).   A lemma     6     (compose) of a root word (say: walk) and all of     7     (it) inflections (walked, walking, walker, etc. ). But if you learn a new language, you can never understand 15,000 lemmas.

He discourages people from learning all of the words in a language. There are 800 to 10,000 lemmas     8     are used most frequently in the language. He advises people to focus     9     these lemmas. With these lemmas, people can understand 75% of the language.   And they will be     10     (confidence) to start a conversation, order at a restaurant, and deal with other daily communication.