A Guizhou golden Monkey “Xiao Fan” gave birth to a baby on March 21, 2024 in southwest China’s Mount Fanjingshan region, the Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve Administration announced Friday. The Guizhou golden monkey is also called the rare Guizhou snub-nosed monkey     1     (know) as the “Earth’s only child”.

The baby monkey is in sound health. Amazingly, over the past eight years, “Xiao Fan”     2     (give) birth to four healthy babies successfully, according to the reserve administration. And this has made a great contribution to     3     (they) research work.

The rare Guizhou snub-nosed monkey,     4     exclusively lives in the area of Mount Fanjingshan, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, is under top-level     5     (protect) in China and is listed as a “    6     (critical) endangered” species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Yang Wei, head of the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey research center of the nature reserve, said that the breeding (繁殖) period of the monkeys was shortened from three years to two years at the center, thus     7     (help) carry out scientific research on the monkeys greatly.

Among the three species of golden snub-nosed monkeys endemic (特有的) to China, the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey is the one with the     8     (small) population, the narrowest habitat and the least ecological information.

There has been     9     estimated population of 700 to 800 rare Guizhou snub-nosed monkeys.     10     present, there are nine captive Guizhou snub-nosed monkeys at the research center.

Every year on March 14, students around the world put down their textbooks and pick up slices of pie to celebrate a unique and delicious holiday-Pi(π) Day.

Thinking of the first 3 digits (数位) of pi(3.14), you can quickly work out     1     March 14 was chosen as the date for Pi Day. In 2019, UNESCO set the day as the International Day of Mathematics to celebrate the beauty of math and stress the essential role it plays in all aspects of our lives.

Pi Day was first celebrated in the US in 1988 at San Francisco’s Exploratorium, a museum of science and technology which     2     (encourage) visitors to be hands-on. During the first celebration, Exploratorium’s employees marched around one of the circular     3     (space) of the museum because pi is the rate of a circle’s circumference (周长) to its diameter.

As a celebration of the mathematical constant pi, Pi Day in China is to honor Zu Chongzhi (429-500 AD), a Chinese mathematician who calculated pi as being     4     3.1415926 and 3.1415927, a record in accuracy     5     was not surpassed for over 800 years.

Pi Day is celebrated in     6     (variety) ways across the world. In the US, schools usually hold activities related to pie, such as pie-eating contests or     7     (simple) throwing pies toward each other. “In Germany, the celebration of Pi Day takes on a cultural twist,” said a 15-year-old German girl. Schools inspire students     8     (express) their artistic side through pi-related art displays. These range from pi-inspired paintings to mathematical sculptures, training creativity within the field of mathematics. She even built a 3-dimensional cityscape with Lego for Pi Day,     9     (use) different colored blocks to represent each digit of pi.

So, this year’s Pi Day was no different. Pies     10     (eat) up and numbers rolled as students across the globe came together yet again to honor the charm of pi and math as a whole.

Apart     1     the life-size Terracotta Warriors（兵马俑）buried in the mausoleum（陵墓）of Qinshihuang, the first emperor to unite China more than 2,000 years ago, bronze water birds also accompanied him into the afterlife.

A show now on at the Qinshihuang Mausoleum Site Museum in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, displays 57 bronze water birds and clay figures discovered in a pit（坑）, the     2    （content）of which are said to be related to the emperor’s favorite entertainments.     3     show is divided into three sections, which recount the discovery of the bronzes, the ancient techniques     4    （use）to make them, and how they were designed and made to match their surroundings.

Everything on display was unearthed in Pit No.7, a burial pit far from the one     5    （contain）the terracotta army. So far, 46 life-size water birds, including cranes, swans and wild geese, as well as 15kneeling pottery figures,     6    （discover）.

“It’s rare to see figures and water birds together in imperial tombs. It’s also very different from     7     has been found in other pits and chambers at Qinshihuang’s mausoleum. It’s an     8    （illustrate）of the inner world of Qin Dynasty（221-206 BC）people,” says Wang Rui, aplanner of the exhibition.

Wang says that the exhibition leaves many questions, such as why only the three kinds of animals were chosen     9    （accompany）the emperor, who made them, and how they were able to make the birds look so lifelike.

“There are still many mysteries about Qinshihuang’s mausoleum for     10    （we）to explore,” adds Wang.

China’s central bank issued an e-CNY (digital yuan) user guide on Monday, the     1     (late) move aimed at promoting mobile payment for foreigners.

Mobile phone users can search for “e-CNY” in the App Store or Google Play to download and install (安装) the digital yuan app,     2     press the “Sign up” option to register an account, according to     3     statement which is in the language of both Chinese and English from the People’s Bank of China. Next, click “Open/Add e-CNY Wallets” and select any authorized operator that supports international services     4     (complete) the registration process and start using e-CNY wallets, the statement explained.

The e-CNY wallet can be registered     5     (use) mobile phone numbers from over 210     6    (country) and regions across the world, according to the central bank statement.

In order to further enhance payment     7     (convenient) for foreigners in China, Alipay has increased its service languages     8     16 from the earlier two languages—Chinese and English. Alipay and WeChat Pay, China’s two major payment apps,     9     (announce) earlier this month that foreign users can now link     10     (they) international credit cards, including Visa and Mastercard , to these platforms.

In the ancient Shuowen Dictionary, trust is defined as a combination of sincerity and reliability,     1     (emphasize) the importance of keeping one’s word. This concept was     2     (deep) valued in ancient China, with many proverbs highlighting the significance of integrity in personal and professional relationships. CaoCao, the     3     (rule) of the Wei state during the Three Kingdoms period, embodied (体现) this spirit of trustworthiness, which played a crucial role in his ability     4     (draw) numerous heroes to his side.

During the Three Kingdoms era, a time     5     (mark) by division and conflict among the states of Wei, Shu, and Wu, loyalty was a prized yet rare commodity (商品). Cao Cao’s relationship     6     Guan Yu shows his understanding of trust and respect as foundational     7     (element) of leadership. After capturing Xu Province, Cao Cao encountered Guan Yu. Guan Yu’s surrender (投降) to Cao Cao, under the condition     8     he would leave once he learned of Liu Bei’s whereabouts, presented     9     unique challenge. Cao Cao’s acceptance of these terms, and his subsequent efforts to win over Guan Yu, demonstrate a strategic approach to leadership that     10     (value) talent and honours personal loyalty.

On October 26, China launched the Shenzhou-17 manned spaceship, and the three astronauts aboard would be sent to stay in orbit for about six months on a space station mission. The Shenzhou-17 crew has     1     youngest lineup since the     2    (construct) of China’s Tiangong space station started.

They would perform     3     (variety) of in-orbit space science and application payload tests and experiments, Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA, announced     4     (formal) at a press conference. They would carry     5     extravehicular (舱外) activities, set up extravehicular payloads and conduct space station maintenance and other tasks.

The Shenzhou-17 astronauts would do extravehicular experimental maintenance for the first time,     6     is a very challenging task, Lin added.

With space debris (碎片) increasing, its impact on long-term operating spacecraft is unavoidable, Lin said. “Through initial inspections, we     7     (find) that the solar wings of the space station had been hit by tiny space particles (粒子) several times,     8     (cause) minor damages. ”

“We already took this into consideration in the design stage, though. At present, all functionality and performance indicators of the space station meet requirements,” he added. The astronauts also had the intention     9     (assess) the functioning and performance of the space station and would test the coordination and compatibility of ground support centers in performing space station operation and management tasks,     10     (aim) at further improving the operating efficiency and fault correction capability of the space station.

Yixing teapot,     1     is also called zisha hu in Chinese, is translated as “purple sand teapot”. Approximately five to six thousand years ago, pottery (制陶技艺) activity first emerged in the city of Yixing,     2     (locate) in the southern Jiangsu Province. At that time, Yixing city was one of the famous production     3     (region) of pottery in the east, but in the Tang Dynasty (618—907), potters started to teem with zisha ni or purple sand clay. By the early Ming Dynasty (1368—1644), the popularity of this specialized form of pottery had increased, and replaced other pottery,     4     (become) the preferred tea set.

Zisha hu is     5     unique Chinese art form that developed during the Song Dynasty (960—1279), but reached the height of its fame during the early Ming Dynasty. This very elegant, but simple style of pottery became     6     (increasing) popular as tea preparation     7     (it) moved towards simplicity. The process of preparing tea during the earlier Tang Dynasty     8     (involve) the grinding (碾碎) of leaves and the addition of incense. As this complex method began to fall out of favor, it     9     (replace) with the use of simple bill wonderful whole tea leaves and buds. The unglazed and uncolored purple sand teapot proved it could best capture the real color and fragrance of this new style of tea. In addition, its aesthetics reflected the cultural and     10     (philosophy) ideas of the times.

According to a Chinese saying, no visit to Beijing is complete without seeing the Great Wall or dining on Beijing Roast Duck. As     1     famous and delicious food with a very long history, Beijing Roast Duck is an excellent     2     (choose) if you want to understand more about Chinese cuisine, culture and customs.

Beijing Roast Duck, like the tradition of roast turkey in America, owes its origin     3     the roast goose that is still popular in Europe during festivals. Westerners like Marco Polo brought certain     4     (Europe) customs to China. And they may have managed     5     (introduce) the concept of roasting poultry (家禽) to their Chinese hosts during the Yuan Dynasty. However, another school of thought based upon certain records shows roast duck has a     6     (long) history dating back as far as the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Up until the Southern Song Dynasty, ducks were roasted in the area called Jinling, today’s Nanjing. However, the later Yuan Dynasty rulers moved their capital city to Beijing from Jinling     7     took with them their cuisine, thus     8     (make) roast duck popular in the city that eventually made it its very own specialty.

The ducks were originally roasted in a conventional convection (对流) oven until the Qing Dynasty, when a new method of cooking     9     (employ) by hanging the ducks over the flame in an open oven.

Today, Quan Ju De means Beijing Roast Duck to many Chinese people as well as foreign     10     (tourist).

China’s first domestically-built large cruise ship (游轮), the Adora Magic City, completed its formal delivery on September 4, 2023. This was a development that experts said showed     1     breakthrough for China’s high-end manufacturing (制造业) as well as international cooperation.

The large cruise ship,     2     is 323.6 meters long and weighs 135,500 tons, has 2, 125 guest rooms, 22 unique restaurants and bars, and can accommodate 5, 246 people. Its maiden voyage (处女航)     3     (depart) on January 1, 2024, marking the beginning of its commercial operation.

The fact that China is able to build aircraft carriers, large LNG carriers and large cruise ships     4     the same time is a major     5     (achieve) of the country’s shipbuilding and high-end manufacturing, experts say. This is because the construction of large cruise ships not only     6     (test) a country’s shipbuilding technology, but also requires high-standard management model and     7     (support) industries. This     8     (undoubted) reflects a country’s equipment building capacity and comprehensive science and technology levels.

As cruises are important part of the international tourism market, the     9     (commerce) operation of domestic cruise could also promote China’s cooperation with other countries in tourism, culture and other     10     (aspect), Wang Peng, associate researcher from the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

The Lepcha people are a minority group living in parts of India, Nepal, Bhutan, and China. They have a rich and unique culture, and one less-known aspect of their customs     1     (be) their music and dance traditions.

Lepcha music is     2     (primary) oral and performed in a call-and-response fashion. The songs are typically related to themes from nature and Lepcha folktales.

Lepcha dances are a vital part of     3     (they) culture, often performed during festivals and special occasions. One such dance is called the “Ponsum”, performed in a group of eight people. Each dancer carries a bamboo stick,     4     is struck against the ground to the music. This dance is typically performed     5     (celebrate) the end of the harvest season.

Another important dance is the “Chaam”, which is performed only by men     6     (wear) beautiful robes and masks. The dance is performed in a circle     7     the sound of drums and other instruments.

Another interesting aspect of Lepcha culture is their     8     (tradition) clothing, still worn by many Lepcha people today. The women wear a brightly colored blouse and a long skirt while the men wear     9     long-sleeved shirt and baggy trousers.

Overall, Lepcha culture has many fascinating traditions and customs, and their music, dance, and clothing are just a few     10     (example) of their unique way of life.