Baiyang Lake, also known as Lake Baiyangdian, is located in the Xiong’an New Area of Baoding. As the largest freshwater lake in North China, it has gained     1     (recognize) as the “Pearl of North China” due to its breathtaking scenery and unique ecological functions. It is referred to     2     the Kidney of North China.

The old Chinese movie “Zhang Ga, the Soldier Boy” is famous for the lake     3     Zhang Ga lived. With the beautiful lotus, flourishing reeds and plenty of fish. Lake Baiyangdian is     4     (precise) like that lake.

    5     (serve) as a crucial waterway, Baiyangdian Lake occupies an import ant location in the ancient basin of the North China Plain. Throughout the Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial court continually     6     (expand) the marshlands, resulting in the formation of a winding “Water Great Wall.” Over time, Baiyangdian Lake     7     (remain) steadfast (不变的) in fulfilling crucial ecological roles from storing floodwater to regulating the climate.

However, the lake almost dried out because of climate change from 1983 to 1988. Local governments launched 26 rehabilitation projects in 2005     8     (restore) and improve Lake Baiyangdian’s ecological environment. Now, the beauty of Lake Baiyangdian resembles the one     9     (describe) in “Zhang Ga, the Soldier Boy”, attracting visitors who hope to take     10     glance at the vivid lotus, flourishing reeds and the clear lake water.

In 1999, Esteban Zottele,     1     is a scholar from Argentina in South America, first visited China and changed his life. Then Esteban came     2     (study) at Renmin University of China and obtained a doctoral degree. In his spare time, he spent most of his time traveling around,     3     (leave) his footsteps in the cities of Baoding, Chongqing and Shenzhen.

“My study experience has made me more     4     (close) connected with China,” Esteban says. He is     5     (amaze) at the vast and rich culture, as well as the rapid development and     6     (transform) of China over the years. “Most cities are now connected by high-speed railway, unlike when I first visited here,” he adds.

Currently, Esteban teaches Spanish at a university in East China's Jiangsu Province. Since 2013, he     7     (carry) out research on the BRI — the Belt and Road Initiative (“一带一路”倡议).“In recent years, many Latin American countries, like Argentina, have joined China in constructing the BRI. As     8     result, China can expand the international market and improve commercial relations     9     the two nations,” says Esteban. Esteban thinks that cultural differences should     10    (recognize), so as to promote mutual understanding and trust among people of all countries.

It took six hours for Liu Yi to get to Tianshui, Northwest China’s Gansu province by train. He     1     (spend) another two hours waiting in a queue and finally got his hands on a bowl of local malatang — a mix of foods     2     (boil) in hot, spicy broth. While choosing the     3     (ingredient) he wanted, Liu picked wide, thin rice noodles and a lot of chillis, along     4     the usual vegetables and meat. Spicy food is a must for Liu, a native of Southwest China’s Sichuan province. “The malatang did not disappoint me. It has a kind of rich     5     (fragrant),” Liu said, after wiping his bowl clean.

The popularity of the dish is     6     (sudden) increasing. Thousands of diners like Liu have been making their way to the little-known northwestern city     7     (try) malatang, overwhelming local restaurant owners and contributing to local wealth. Since early March, videos and photos of Tianshui malatang     8     (go) viral on social media platforms. It all started when a netizen released a seven-second video on Feb 13 that gained millions of views. More vloggers followed suit, and then the tourists began to arrive in groups.

Within a month, bookings for hotel rooms in Tianshui had increased year-on-year, according to Ctrip,     9     online travel platform. Qinzhou district,     10     most malatang restaurants and attractions are located, received more than 770,000 tourists, local authorities said.

Scientists have discovered the remains of     1     appears to be an ancient sheep-drawn chariot (战车) near the famous Terracotta Army in the western tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The main structure of the chariot has likely rotted (腐烂) away after     2     (spend) more than 2,000 years in the ground but researchers did find a row of six sheep skeletons (骨架) wearing attachments used for pulling a chariot, so they     3     (infer) this was a sheep-drawn chariot.

Horse-drawn chariots were common in ancient China, but a sheep-drawn chariot is     4     extremely rare find. The founder of the Western Jin Dynasty, Emperor Wu, or Sima Yan, who ruled from 266 to 290CE, is said     5     (ride) in a sheep-drawn carriage around his palace complex every night and would sleep wherever the sheep stopped. Researchers hope laboratory     6     (analyze) on the western tomb’s burial chamber, which is currently underway, will help them determine who was buried there.

In addition to the six-sheep chariot, scientists unearthed a four-wheeled     7     (wood) chariot, probably drawn by horses,     8     (equip) with a fancy umbrella. It is the oldest of     9     (it) type ever found. They also found a wealth of iron tools and weapons, providing new insight     10     the period when iron tools first began to appear.

The secret of Miyazaki

On the desk of Hayao Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli is a     1    (various) of coloured pencils and watercolors, an eraser and a stopwatch. It’s the equipment of this Japanese godfather of animation. Those age-old tools underline the craft of Miyazaki’s films,     2     remain hand-drawn work in an age of high technology.

His latest film The Boy and the Heron (苍鹭),     3    (release) in 2023 in Japan, is no nostalgia (怀旧) trip for fans, however. The appeal of its craft has already been borne out at the box office and with awards nominations.

For The Boy and the Heron, it’s a perfect combination of the completely fantastical and the     4    (deep) personal. The plot begins as a boy survives the death of his mother in the firebombing of Tokyo, and     5    (join) his father and new stepmother in the countryside. But from that point, a talking heron introduces the boy to a parallel world bustling with     6    (creature) and mysteries, accessed through an     7    (abandon) tower. The rural flight echoes Miyazaki’s own experience as a three-year-old when his family escaped first to Utsunomiya and then to Kanuma.

The film’s director of animation, Takeshi Honda, explains that this world     8    (mean) to transport the viewers entirely through the looking glass-dreamy and irrational     9    not necessarily soothing.

“We were aiming for an Alice in Wonderland kind of feeling,” he says. “It gives you a sense of suspense in that you don’t really know     10     is going to happen from that point on.”