Heritage professionals     1     (stress) the role of technology in the protection of cultural heritage at this year’s first deputies’ passage interview on March 5, 2024, just before the second session of the 14th National People’s Congress.

Despite progress     2     (make) in the protection of the Yungang Grottoes, protection with greater use of technology is still     3     they need, said Hang Kan, a deputy to the 14th National People’s Congress, who is also a researcher with the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

According     4     Hang, the Yungang Grottoes from the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) had a huge cost in human, material and financial resources. A consolidation (整合) project on the     5     (danger) rock bodies was carried out for decades and ended in recent years. But the protection efforts may     6     (destroy) as the grottoes were carved in a Jurassic sandstone formation with complex geological conditions, and are threatened by weathering and water leakage.

He mentioned two technological     7     (measure) adopted in the protection of the grottoes were awarded at national-level scientific conferences, and they will intensify technological investment in the research of cave deterioration and     8     (develop) of protective materials in future work.

“Yungang Grottoes are a treasure of traditional Chinese culture,” said Hang. “We will give priority to protection and add more technological measures     9     (protect) them. We will continue to promote the research, display and utilization of the grottoes, do     10     good job in the inheritance of the cultural heritage so that more people can feel the charm of traditional culture.”

What comes to your mind when you think of Beijing? The Forbidden City? Tian’anmen Square? The Temple of Heaven? All these famous landmarks     1     (locate) along the central axis (中轴线). As the best-preserved core area of the old city of Beijing, the central axis is now under     2     (consider) for UNESCO’s World Heritage status.

The central axis refers     3     the “line” that separates the eastern and western parts of Beijing. At 7.8 kilometers long, it runs from Yongding Gate in the south to the Bell Tower and Drum Tower in the north. Construction began in the Yuan Dynasty, and continued during the Ming and Qing     4     (dynasty).

The central axis, like the backbone of Beijing,     5     (smart) organized the palaces, temples, markets and streets in ancient times. It shows the traditional Chinese concept of     6    (respect) the center. This stressed the     7     (important) of imperial power, as the royal palace would be in the central spot. Other important buildings were placed around it. It also shows traditional Chinese ideas like harmony between man and nature and following order. It runs from the south to the north, the same as the direction of a meridian (子午线). The ritual (礼乐) culture     8     started from the Zhou Dynasty stressed balance, symmetry (对称) and order. There are lots of symmetric buildings along the axis. The Forbidden City is the most well-known palace     9     (build) along the central axis.

The central axis is more than     10     material relic. It is also a continuation of the traditional Chinese city layout concept.

Yunnan has adopted artificial intelligence (AI) to carry out most routine inspections at 621 power substations (变电站), replacing the need for human workers. The AI inspection, powered by cameras, drones (无人机) and walking robots,     1     (be) capable of completing a task in     2     (little) than five minutes, down from the five hours     3     (require) by human workers.

Yunnan, a major     4     (produce) of hydropower and other forms of clean electricity, has 1, 937 power substations of 35 kilovolts (千伏) or above, many of     5     are located in mountainous areas. Access to nearly half of     6     substations requires travel of more than three hours by road.

AI-powered automatic inspections are expected     7     (free) human workers from lengthy road travels, greatly reducing costs. The China Southern Power Grid has planned to promote AI inspections from the experimental areas     8     the rest of the substations in the province over the next two years.

China is increasingly turning to artificial intelligence, especially robotic technologies to tackle the     9     (short) of technicians in remote mountainous areas. Last year, the mountainous province of Guizhou also started using robots to inspect the power substations that are     10     (easy) influenced by extreme weather conditions.

As with any other cuisine, appearance, smell and taste are extremely important in enjoying Chinese food. Besides these basic elements, however, there is something unique     1     Chinese cuisine. One of them is the importance of texture (口感). The Chinese appreciate a far     2    (wide) range of textures in their food than most Westerners,     3    (include), for example, slippery, chewy and bouncy textures. Chinese people enjoy using their teeth and tongue to feel food, such as chicken feet and duck tongues. If you want to deepen your     4    (appreciate) of Chinese food, it     5    (recommend) that you order some chicken feet to appreciate what your teeth and tongue are doing while you eat them.

Another element of Chinese cuisine is the art of cutting. So you might like to consider the way that the ingredients are cut     6     how this affects the way they look on the plate. If your meal has been ordered by a Chinese person or someone else who is knowledgeable about the food, you might also notice that there is     7    (probable) a soup that is intended to provide     8     pleasing contrast to the more strongly flavoured dishes. You might also notice that there is at least one lightly flavoured vegetable dish,     9     will help to create a balance d meal that will leave you     10    (relax) afterwards.

China’s deep, rich history is on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art in the US state of Ohio, with rare paintings and precious artifacts (手工艺品) collected from several famous Chinese museums and private collections worldwide. The exhibition, Six Dynasties of Chinese Painting, will run until Sept 1, 2024 at the museum, known     1     having one of the largest and most     2     (distinguish) Asian art collections in the West. It covers six dynasties up until the modern era and presents a wide range of    3     (subject), including landscapes, animals, birds and flowers, along with religious and historical themes.

The museum said it acquired the paintings from the museum’s founding in 1913 to the most recent additions, “demonstrating a continuous     4     (commit) to Chinese painting, a field that has always been the strongest asset (财产) of the Chinese collection”.

The museum’s general Chinese art collection spans more than 5,000 years. Some of the most important paintings     5     (be) from the Song (960—1279) to Qing dynasties(1644—1911). The museum said it is trying to showcase the “highest level of Chinese artistic accomplishment”. This includes bamboo carvings, bronzes, sculptures, paintings, calligraphy and furniture. It also has paintings, Buddhist sculptures and textiles (纺织品),    6     (describe) as “works of international significance”.

The curators are     7     (continuous) updating their Asian art to reflect the rich traditions and continuing artistic developments of China.

William Griswold, the museum’s director and president, worked with exhibition curator Clarissa von Spee to highlight works from all over     8     globe, especially Asia.    9     (draw) people’s attention to Chinese art was a central mission for Sherman Lee,     10     was former director of the museum. He was in charge of the museum from 1958 to 1983. He established a large proportion of the institution’s Chinese painting collection.

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.

Changxing Baiyelong dance is a     1     (character) dragon dance popular in Lincheng town, Changxing county, Huzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province. Baiyelong, which     2     (literal) means “a dragon made of a hundred lotus leaves”,     3     (inspire) by a local legend about a dragon born in a lotus pond.

The dance, which is usually performed by a team of 17 people during temple     4     (festival), is a customary practice that     5     (represent) the wishes of local residents for a prosperous year, both for their families and their motherland.

In 1957, a Baiyelong dance program took home     6     gold award at the sixth World Youth College Students Festival     7     (hold) in Moscow in 1957. In April 2004, Changxing set up a training base     8     (restore) the traditional art and established a government-backed troupe in June 2005. A year later, Changxing Baiyelong dance was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list. In 2023, the Changxing Baiyelong dance was selected     9     a warm-up performance for the Asian Games’ opening ceremony and it made an immediate impression on hundreds of millions of TV viewers.

“We hope that this dance,     10     has been performed in Changxing for over 200 years, can be presented to the whole world in a brand-new way on the stage of the Asian Games,” said Gu Keni, the general director of the program.

It can be hard not to let negativity go into your day, especially during     1    (stress) periods of life. A bit of optimism makes you become better and emotionally     2    (healthy) in the long term. An optimistic person is always looking for the best in any situation and expecting that good things     3    (happen). But being optimistic doesn’t mean you go into denial and pretend everything is fine when it’s not. It is a particular state of mind     4     you hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

The horse-face skirt, or mamianqun in Chinese, is a traditional Chinese skirt that dates back to the Song Dynasty. Traditionally it has two panels     1     (attach) to a single waistband, which overlap in front of the body to form a “skirt door”, like the horse-face defenses on ancient city walls. It primarily     2     (represent) a Chinese philosophical concept that harmonizes strength and gentleness. The skirt has gone beyond time and space to become a fashion item today. It     3     (prefer) by fans of traditional clothing, who have continued to develop it.

An elderly couple has become stars in the marathon community.     1     (win) at least 200 medals from sports meetings in the past ten years, they are regarded as role models by many people. Initially, the couple started running just     2     (improve) their health. Later, they decided to challenge themselves and signed up for a marathon. Though neither of them had run a full marathon before, they managed to complete it. They believe no matter     3     age it is, the marathon spirit of fighting to the end is essential.