Grain Rain is the     1     (six) of the Twenty-four Solar Terms in the traditional Chinese calendar, which this year starts from April 20. As the last solar term in spring, this period sees the temperature rise and rainfall increase,     2     (create) an ideal environment for plants and animals.

Grain Rain is still relevant     3     modern agriculture. It links grain with rain, reflecting an increasing amount of precipitation (降水), which is good for the     4     (grow) of crops. For farmers, it is a good time to sow.

It might not be so well-known that in Chinese tale an actual “grain rain”     5     ( record) in the story of Cang Jie,     6     invented the first Chinese characters. Prior to 2500 BC, in order to keep records more     7     (precise), Cang Jie originated a set of characters from observing the tracks of birds and mammals. After his groundbreaking invention, grains started to pour down from the sky.

The Grain Rain day has become a day     8     (honor) Cang Jie and the invention of the Chinese language, and April 20 has been designated as the annual UN Chinese Language Day since 2010. Chinese characters are a treasure of the     9     (spirit) homeland of Chinese people, the thousands of years of Chinese culture,     10     an important symbol of cultural identity.

Before becoming a web novel writer in 2018 Disha Florence from Dhaka, Bangladesh, now 25, was trying to find a way to free    1    (she) from the long-existed restrictions    2    (face) by a woman, a wish she has had since she was 8.

It was then that she observed that being a girl meant she could not go to play in the park like boys. She needed to learn household chores but boys could play all day. “I lost many    3    (opportunity) because, I had to listen to my parents and I regretted it. That’s when I thought that if I had    4    (free), I wouldn’t have to listen to others,” says Florence. As she grew up. she realized that    5    any experience and knowledge, it is impossible to be free. Therefore, while    6    (contiune) her study, Florence went to work as    7    volunteer in an NG,O.

At 22, she    8    (read) online fiction in English on Webnovel translated from Chinese when she noticed that the website was hiring authors    9    were said to have the chance    10     (make) a great deal of money. “Without thinking further, I started writing, and became a professional web novelist,” she says.

The buildings in the Old Town of Dali     1     (create) at the end of the 14th century.     2     (cover) an area of about three square kilometers, it is surrounded by moats and wails. The Bai people     3     (form) their unique tea culture on offering tea to guests till now. It is known     4     the “Three-Course Tea”. That means the tea comes in three styles. In the first round, the Bai people place an empty teapot on the fire until its surface is hot. Then they put a handful of tea leaves inside the teapot, and shake it     5     (make) sure the tea leaves are completely baked. Finally, the host will offer a half cup of tea to guests     6     (expect) to drink at one time. In the second round, the Bai people make the tea     7     same way, but they add some brown sugar, cheese slices (a local product), and cinnamon to sweeten the     8     (mix). In the third round, the Bai people still make the tea in this way,     9     they add honey, puffed sticky rice, dry Sichuan pepper, and ground walnuts, so the tea has varieties of flavors, including sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy, and rich aftertastes. The Three-Course Tea also reflects the philosophy     10     life is both bitter and sweet, but every moment is cherished when looked back on.

With Tokyo Summer Olympics     1     (approach), reports indicate that facial recognition will be used as a security measure at those games. The Japan Times reported the technology would be used to “make the entry to the stadiums simple”.

While spectators (观众) won’t have to receive the     2     (treat), athletes, officials and journalists will be screened, according to the report of The Japan Times.    3     there were complaints of long waits, the organizing committee     4     (prove) the technology during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil quite     5     (success). They hope to sort out the wait and other issues ahead of the Tokyo Games     6     will start in late July 2021.

NEC, the company handling the technology, also tested out their equipment at two airports and is behind a number of other similar projects,    7     (include) software used by the Chicago Police. This technology is becoming far     8     (popular) and the Olympics are just the latest area to use them     9     security purposes. Other examples of planned or in use include robot police in China, bridges and tunnels in New York City, and more widespread uses by the FBI. Also, the technology allows you     10     (use) your fancy new phone and order fast food.

Old people who smoke may think     1     unnecessary to give up the habit as the damage from years of smoking can't be made up for. But it turns out there's a benefit of     2     (quit) even later in life. Recent research     3     (publish) in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that older adults who quit smoking in their 60s     4     (have) a lower chance of dying in the following years than the ones of the same age who kept smoking.

The results were based on a survey     5     more than 160, 000 participants older than 70 completed questionnaires about their smoking history in 2004 or 2005, and were tracked until the end of 2011 to see who had died. Those who quit in their 60s had     6     23 percent lower risk of death during the study than the current smokers.

The research also stresses that the most effective way     7     (keep) from smoking is to advise people not to get     8     the habit in the first place. Most smokers start and get both physically and     9     (mental) addicted during their adolescence. And among current smokers, the     10     (early) the study participants started, the higher their likelihood of dying during the follow-up period.

Green Hills, Clear Water, Blue Sky is a project that was set up by the government three years ago. Since it was started, many people    1     (take) part. They think it is     2     (they) duty to make the Earth    3     (beauty) and peaceful. At    4     same time, they insist that the government should play an important role and try their best    5     (protect) the environment. Some answers of factories are damaging the environment by     6     (pollute) rivers with chemical waste. So it is     7     (believe) that the government should pass laws to punish people    8     damage the environment. Besides, the government should build conservation centres so that plants and animals     9     danger can be protected.

All in all, people and the government should work side by side to take care    10     the Earth.

Covering 7 million square kilometers of jungle and river over eight countries, the Amazon Rainforest is home to millions of sorts of plants and animals, some of     1     are still being discovered today. It's also the world’s     2    (large) supplier of oxygen and is a treasure chest for medical     3    (researcher) who are experimenting with different plants in hopes of finding cures for certain diseases.    4    , the world is at risk of losing this rich rainforest because of deforestation (滥伐森林)    5     (cause) by the actions of farmers, loggers and settlers.

The Amazon Basin     6    (lose) 20% of its rainforest since 1970. Cattle farmers have     7    (continuous) cleared the land for cows     8    (eat) on and crop farmers have begun “slash and burn” (刀耕火种), a farming method that involves cutting down forests and burning the land to make     9     suitable for agricultural purpose. Loggers have been cutting down the trees for timber(木材), further decreasing its size.

With the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest, global warming becomes more of a threat. It is up to each individual to fight against the     10    (disappear) of the Amazon by making the world know something about this environmental disaster.

The China National Space Administration published on Thursday three pictures     1    （take）recently by its Zhurong Mars rover（探测器）,     2     showed the parachute（降落伞）and bowl-shaped back shell used in the rover’s landing.

The pictures     3    （shoot）by Zhurong’s camera on Monday as the rover was traveling southward for its scientific     4    （explore）.

As of Thursday afternoon, Zhurong, named     5     the Chinese god of fire in ancient mythology, had operated 60 days on Mars and traveled 450 meters     6    （survey）the barren planet. Meanwhile, the mission’s orbiter has continued traveling around the Red Planet.

The 240-kilogram Zhurong is tasked with surveying Mars’ landforms, geological structures, soil characteristics, potential locations of water and ice, and other physical     7    （property）.

    8     1.85-meter-high rover is the core component of the Tianwen 1 mission, the country’s first interplanetary adventure. Tianwen 1 was     9    （success）launched by a Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket on July 23,2020 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center,     10    （begin）the nation’s first mission to another planet.

The Medal of the Republic, the Friendship Medal and other national honorary titles have gone to 42 outstanding individuals     1     background are varied for their contributions to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its founding.

Pharmaceutical chemist Tu Youyou was one of the eight who     2    (award) the Medal of the Republic. She was the co-winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Yuan Longping, a Chinese agronomist (农学家) and     3    (educate), was another of the eight. Yuan is well-known for developing the first hybrid rice verities. His breakthrough led to     4    (grow) hybrid rice in Africa, South America and Asia, which could provide a     5    (rely) food supply for high-risk famine (饥荒) regions.

The six foreigners     6    (present) with the Friendship Medal included Raul Castro, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, and Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand. Canadian Isabel Crook was also     7    them. 104-year-old Crook who was born in China has been     8    witness to China’s development. After the founding of PRC, she insisted     9    (firm) on staying in China and working at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU). As a teacher at BFSU, she     10    (lay) foundations for foreign-language education in China.

Dunhuang Caves, which are    1    (protect) ancient treasures in the Gobi desert in a remote part of Northwest China, are filled     2    invaluable paintings and sculptures. This Buddhist artwork     3     (create) over a period of around 1,000 years.

The good news for art lovers who cannot travel, and for the caves    4     (they) is that scientists have created     5    360-degree, 3D digital projection (投影) of the caves. The projection has interactive    6    (feature) that make the artwork    7     (come) alive. There is also a function    8     lets viewers zoom in (镜头拉近) and see the paintings and sculptures in    9    (great) detail.

Digitising ancient art allows us to explore the practices of long ago. It also makes the art    10    (access) to the world while protecting the original artworks for the future.