Whenever I tell people that I teach English at the Berlin Zoo, I almost always get a questioning look. Behind it, the person is trying to figure out who exactly I teach…the animals?

Since June 2017, right before the     1     (arrive) of the two new pandas, Meng Meng and Jiao Qing, I have been helping the panda keepers at the zoo to feel more comfortable and     2     (confidence) speaking English. And who do they speak English     3    ?

Not the pandas, even though     4     language used for the medical training instructions is actually English. They talk to the flood of international tourists and to     5     (visit) Chinese zookeepers who often come to check on the pandas, which are on loan from China. They also need to be ready to give     6     (interview) in English with international journalists. This is     7     they need an English trainer.

So, what are they learning?     8     (basic), how to describe a panda’s life. It’s been an honor to watch the panda programme develop     9     to see the pandas settle into their new home. As a little girl, I     10     (wish) to be a zookeeper when I grew up. Now, I’m living out that dream indirectly by helping the panda keepers do their job in English.

Going to Mount Huangshan reminds me of the popular Beatles’ song “The Long and Winding Road”.     1     is so breathtaking about the experience is the out-of-this-world scenes. The rolling sea of clouds you see once you are at the top will remind you how tiny we     2     (human) are.

The hot spring at the foot of the mountain is something you must try after the climb. It will     3    (undoubted) help you get refreshed! The amazing thing about the spring is that the colder the temperature gets, the     4     (hot) the spring! Strange, isn’t it? But that’s how nature is — always leaving us     5     (astonish).

What comes next is the endless series of steps. You can’t help wondering how hard it     6     (be) for the people then to put all those rocks into place. Though it is the only unnatural thing on your way up the mountain, still it highlights the whole adventure     7    offers a place where you can sit down to rest your     8     (ache) legs.

As the song goes, this long and winding road “will never disappear”, and it will always stick in the visitor’s memory. It sure does in     9     (I). While you’re in China, Mount Huangshan is     10     must to visit!

The government has awarded $5 million to three different local nonprofit organizations. The money will     1    (distribute) over a four-year period and is aimed at helping approximately 1, 000 homeless people in the county of Arvada.

One agency,     2    (base) in Woodbridge, is expected     3    (receive) $1. 5 million. The agency director says that they will focus their resources on     4    (educate) the homeless. “We will probably build another school-home with this money,” he said. “A school-home is exactly     5     it sounds like. It is a school and a home. We have already built four school-homes throughout the county. We get the homeless off the street,     6     we educate them so they don’t have to return to the street. We teach them how to be gardeners, painters, carpenters, bricklayers, electricians, and air-conditioning repairmen.”

“You wouldn’t believe     7     success that we have had. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, our office air-conditioning went out. My secretary called a repairman. To our surprise, the repairman     8    (be) one of our first homeless students. He now owns his own air-conditioning business, plus two houses, two cars and a boat! He has a dozen employees. He’s doing better than I am. He fixed our air-conditioning     9     free. I think I might sign up for the air-conditioning class     10    (I). ”

Yang Jiang was a well-known Chinese playwright, translator, and author. She belonged to     1     unique and beautiful existence in Chinese literature. She was the first Chinese academic     2    (translate) Miguel de Cervantes’ Spanish novel Don Quixote to Chinese and at that time, her translation     3     (honor) as the recreation of the original work       4     the basis of loyalty.

Yang was born into a rich family in 1911,     5    (original)named Yang Jikang. After eventually     6     (graduate) from Soochow University, she enrolled at the graduate school of Tsinghua University. She met her husband there, Qian Zhongshu, another acclaimed writer in China.

Other than translations, Yang     7     (author) many plays, novels, and essays during her writing career. Her short novel Mr. Wang,     8    (write) in 1984, was selected as an article in the textbook. In 1986, she got the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise, a famous Spanish civil order, for her     9     (achieve) in Don Quixote. Her bestseller was We Three in 2003,     10     sales exceeded 180,000 copies in two months. Yang passed away in 2016, at the age of 105.

The sheepskin raft (羊皮筏), the oldest means of transportation along the Yellow River, has a history of nearly 2,000 years. The airbag of the raft is made of     1     whole sheepskin and goes through many processes including heating to remove hair, soaking in salty oil, sewing, drying     2     blowing. Then the airbags     3     (fasten) to a wooden stand, enabling its use for transporting people and goods across the water.

It is said that the largest sheepskin raft in old times     4     (consist) of more than 600 sheepskin airbags, with an impressive length of 22 meters and a     5     (wide) of 7 meters. It was capable of carrying around 30 tons of goods and drifting over 200 kilometers in one day.

In the early 20th century, before the 1950s,     6     railways were not yet in operation and road traffic was     7    (convenient), the sheepskin raft served as the most important means of transportation for residents     8     (live) along the Yellow River.

However, with the rapid development of society, the sheepskin raft has largely played its historical role     9     transporting people and goods. Nowadays, it can only be found along the banks of the Yellow River in some cities in Gansu province. It has become a tool for people     10     (do) some sightseeing on the Yellow River.

On Jan 22, the first day of the Year of the Rabbit, Li, a citizen of Tianjin, prepared for her daughter     1     in China is called a “red packet”, a monetary gift     2     (traditional) given by the elderly to the younger generation during the Spring Festival.

Instead of withdrawing cash from a bank and putting it in a red envelope, this year, she chose to use the e-CNY mobile application,     3     (pass) on her blessing with digital fiat currency.

This virtual red packet of 200 yuan ($29.62) has a lively cover with not only lovely animated images on it but also a message carefully     4     (select) by the mother: Try not to be bothered. “Red packet of the digital yuan is easy for the elderly like me to operate     5     interesting enough to draw youngsters’ attention,” Li said.

Issued by the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, the digital yuan     6     (design) to be treated as M0, meaning cash in     7     (circulate), such as coins and banknotes. So far, 17 provincial level regions in China     8     (pilot) the use of digital yuan. During the week-long Spring Festival holiday, a large number of red packets of digital yuan have also been distributed     9     residents across the country to stimulate the consumer market. Cities including Beijing,     10     capital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province in the east, and Shenzhen, Guangdong province in the south, issued e-CNY coupons.

Demand on tourism burst as the Minsu market’s recovery sped up during the May Day holiday. Oceans of tourists flooded into Zibo in China’s Shandong Province for its BBQ,     1     drove its Minsu market to boom. According to the online booking site Tujia, Minsu’s average room price remained lower than the national average level, but     2     (it) booking number increased three times in Shandong Province during the May Day vacation.

    3     (base) on Tujia statistics, other cities in Shandong Province also showed remarkable performances on Minsu bookings. Qingdao and Weihai were among China’s top ten tourism destinations.     4     former even surpassed (超过) Chengdu and Chongqing for the first time to take the number one spot.     5     (additional), the booking numbers in Yantai, Jinan, Rizhao and Tai’an of Shandong Province also     6     (see) a good performance.

The Minsu in rural areas still gain     7     (popular), with the booking number     8     (account) for nearly 40% of the total, according to Tujia.

Among customers booking the Minsu in rural areas, the “post-80” and “post-90” generations are still the mainstream. The     9     (hot) types of accommodations are lofts, inns, and single-family villas. Besides, fruit and vegetable picking, DIY activities, and food-tasting events are the top choices     10     holiday activities.

Wearing Hanfu and sitting in front of a Chinese zither (筝), Peng Jingxuan, a young Chinese student, moves her fingers gently along the strings on a street in Paris, France.

Peng has shared more than 200     1     (origin) videos online, with the most popular one featuring the theme song of the movie A Chinese Ghost Story viewed over 16.61 million times. “I love how she’s representing her culture in a     2     (set) where people are not familiar with it. You can tell she’s proud of her background and her music,” one of her fans commented.

Chinese zither (筝), or guzheng, is an ancient musical instrument with 21-26 strings and a length of 1.63 meters. Peng     3     (fall) in love with it when young and has been practicing it for years. Hardly finding Chinese instruments     4     (play) on the streets in Paris, she took along her guzheng     5     began her street performances to sharpen her skills. The more she performed, the more she felt a greater sense of responsibility     6     (spread) Chinese music and culture.

Considering her audience’s     7     (unfamiliar) with Chinese songs, Peng made adaptations, for     8     she received positive responses. She also performed Western pop songs that local people could relate     9    , entertaining them with beautiful melodies in a     10     (refresh) style.

In southern China, there is a famous road     1    (build) across Poyang Lake, which lies in the north of Jiangxi Province, China and is known as China’s second     2     (large) lake. People in China also call it “the most beautiful road under the water.”

This road is sure     3     (attract) a lot of attention towards the end of May every year. A lot of people come out of     4     (curious). The water level of the lake is so close to the surface of the road,     5     makes the view ahead broad and bright when people drive along. It’s as though they were taking a boat across the lake. The feeling is     6     (simple) wonderful!

For the next few months, this road is not above the surface    7    under the water. When the water level of Poyang Lake starts to go up, the road surface becomes unseen. However, drivers can still drive across the lake safely     8     watching the guardrails(防撞护栏) fixed on either side of the road. For thrill-seeking motorists, it’s like     9     (drive) an amphibious(水陆两栖的) super car. Then in a few days, the entire road     10     (flood) with the continuously rising water. A few months later, the road will reappear.

According to the traditional Chinese calendar (日历), for every 19 years there will be seven leap months. “Leap month”     1    (refer) to a repetitive month. Rather     2    (interesting), there are two Februarys in 2023.

There are     3     variety of traditions and customs during leap month in China. They are quite     4    (fascinate) for you to explore. In some parts of East China’s Shandong province, the married daughters send toads (蟾蜍) and fish     5    (make) of dough (面团) to their parents.     6    (live) near Wuyi Mountain in East China’s Fujian province, the local people have the tradition of drinking tea at leap month, and only women     7    (allow) to take part. The daughters who are married usually buy pig’s feet and thin noodles for their parents,     8     is unique for people in Southeast China’s Taiwan province. Various historical and cultural factors have contributed     9     the diverse customs. Do they successfully arouse your     10    (curious)? The leap February has arrived. Are you prepared with your gifts?