The 14th Beijing International Film Festival is scheduled for April 18 to 26, with Serbian director Emir Kusturica     1     (chair) the international jury (评委) for the Tiantan Award, organizers have said. A total of 15 films will compete for this year’s Tiantan Award,     2     were selected from a record-breaking application pool of 1,509 films from 118 countries     3     regions according to a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

Brazil was invited to be the guest of honor at this year’s event, as 2024     4     (mark) the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic(外交的)relations between China and Brazil. A number of Brazilian     5     (representative) of film and TV companies will attend the festival, with     6     series of Brazilian movies set to be screened in Beijing.

During the festival, over 240 domestic and international films with diverse themes will be shown across more than 20 theaters in Beijing and     7     (it) neighboring Tianjin Municipality and Hebei Province.     8     (launch) in 2011, the festival, which has attracted increasing international attention thanks     9     China’s booming film market, aims     10     (boost) exchanges between global industry players.

Millions of tourists have visited the resort island of Hainan province this summer. Visitors     1    (primary)consist of young people, while families with children are also returning in large numbers, resultingin a strong demand for facilities such as accommodations     2    (tailor)to family stays and theme parks.

Apart     3     the tourism scene in the cities on the eastern coast, the western regions of Hainan, including Changjiang Li autonomous county and Danzhou city, have also seen     4     boom in tourism activity. Wearing traditional Li costumes, and fishing in streams     5    (be)among visitors’ favorite activities. Danzhou has also attracted visitors by organizing sports events.

By Aug 19, Haihua Island     6    (receive)over 1 million tourists during the summer vacation. Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, believes that    7    (emerge)forms of tourism, such as self-driving tours, recreational vehicle trips, night travel, wellness retreats,    8    (education)journeys and sports-related activities, need to be better implemented in the tourism market.

Dai suggested     9    (prioritize)academic travel for young people, health-focused tourism for the elderly as well as introducing tourism products     10     suit visitors’ preferences while meeting their budgets.

International Left-Handers Day is celebrated every year on August 13 in an effort     1     (recognize) the differences and uniqueness of left-handed individuals in our society. Most of us have grown up around right-handed people. Some of us have been taught that using our left hand to carry out some essential tasks     2     (be) disrespectful. Consequently, left-handed individuals often find     3     (they) in an awkward situation in a world that is mainly right-handed. Left-handers are often ignored when it comes to design and technology     4     are tuned to suit the requirements of the right-handed majority. Even simple chores like using     5     pair of scissors or using the ATM are inconvenient for most left-handers.

International Left-Handers Day     6     (observe) for the first time in 1976 by Dean R. Campbell. On this day, left-handers are confident that having a dominant left hand is     7     (absolute) normal. Left-handedness should be recognized     8     a unique strength instead of an oddity. This day is very significant as it spreads awareness about the importance of     9     (appreciate) left-handed persons across the globe. This ensures that the historical biases (偏见) against left-handers are corrected and that the world is made as     10     (comfort) for left-handed persons as it is for right-handers.

Some people are born with a vision and desire to help     1     (other). For other people,     2    , this calling comes     3     (expect), like a lion that attacks     4     (it) prey (猎物) by surprise. This was certainly true of Swiss businessman Henry Dunant. In 1859, Dunant travelled to Italy     5     (want) to see Napoleon Ⅲ,     6     Emperor of France.     7     the age of 31, Dunant was already a     8     (succeed) businessman. But he needed the help of Napoleon Ⅲ for one of his business deals. At the time, France     9     (fight) with the     10     (Italy) army in a war against Austria. Dunant knew that Napoleon Ⅲ would be with his army in northern Italy, so he travelled to the city of Solferino to look for him.

Beijing film festival announces winners of Tiantan awards, and director Long Fei receives the Best Feature Film award for Gold or Shit.

The 14th Beijing International Film Festival was held     1     Friday night, announcing the winners of its top honor, the Tiantan Award, during     2     (it) closing ceremony.

Among the three Chinese films nominated in the final     3     (select), director Long Fei’s Gold or Shit, a comedy describing a down-and-out man’s unwelcomed return to his hometown,     4     (sweep) three awards: Best Feature Film, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Screenplay.

Director Long said,     5     (actual), he had felt stressed before finishing shooting, but now he was greatly     6     (encourage) after receiving such an honor. Huang Jia, the scriptwriter of Gold or Shit, shared     7     interesting behind-the-scenes story, telling the experiences of raising money, being advised to cast non-famous performers, but later being surprised     8     (learn) investors (投资方) had convinced stars Hu Ge and Gao Yuanyuan to play the     9     (lead) characters.

The movie marks actor Hu’s first attempt into comedy after two decades in the acting industry. Hu quoted a line from the film, where a character says “It’s always shining if it’s gold”, to express his excitement about the movie,     10     overcame many obstacles as the script came to life.

An undersea tunnel (n.隧道) of a high-speed railway was completed in South China on Friday,    1     (set) a new record in the construction of high-speed railway tunnels in China.

The Zhanjiang Bay (湛江湾) Undersea Tunnel, a key project of the Guangzhou-Zhanjiang High-speed Railway,    2     (complete) after 33 months of construction, marking a significant milestone in the construction of the new railway.

The Zhanjiang Bay Undersea Tunnel spans (v.横跨)    3     total length of 9,640 meters. It is designed as a single tunnel with double tracks, crossing the seabed of the Zhanjiang Bay and the urban area of Zhanjiang. It crosses a 2,500-meter sea section and a 5,051-meter section of land.    4     (especial), the tunnel is China’s    5     (long) single-headed undersea high-speed railway shield tunnel (盾构隧道), showcasing the country’s remarkable engineering techniques.

“Single-headed shield (单头盾构) refers to the method of using a single tunnel boring machine (隧道掘进机)     6     (dig) continuously from one end to the other,” said Yin Yihao, an engineer from China Railway’s 14th Bureau Group, which was responsible for the tunnel’s construction. Yin added that the traditional methods were not applied in the Zhanjiang Bay Undersea Tunnel due to the complicated geological conditions and    7    the single-headed shield tunnel was    8       (safe) and more efficient in this case.

Wu Chunzhao, a senior engineer of the China Railway Design Company,    9     (explain) the reason for building an undersea tunnel instead of a bridge. “Building a tunnel preserves (v.保护) the beautiful urban skyline of the Zhanjiang Bay,    10     avoids the impact of the project on the marine (adj.海洋的) ecological environment,” he said. Wu also noted (v.指出) that a bridge will affect the large ships’ navigation, but the tunnel will not do this.

The tunnel is a key project of a high-speed railway linking Guangzhou and Zhanjiang in Guangdong.

Rice is perhaps the most fundamental food in Laos,    1    (form) the basis for every meal. It’s often the first dish that home     2    (cook), usually women, learn to make. Luangrath, for example,    3     (learn) from her grandmother how to make khao niew, or sticky rice when she was young.

There are more than 40 ethnic groups in Laos, each with its own food    4     (prefer) and traditions. However, for many people in Laos, sticky rice is the first choice, partly due to     5    fact that Lao people eat with their hands.

In Laos, sticky rice is cooked in a thip khao,    6    literally means “rice basket” . These flexible baskets,    7     (make) from sustainable bamboo, are both functional and environmentally friendly. The sizes of thip khao vary, from small and personal     8    large enough for an extended family, although cooking is more     9    (common) done in larger versions. In restaurants, thip khaos     10    (decorate) with delicate patterns are usually used as serving containers.

A popular movie or TV drama has the power to make a city famous     1     promote a tourism boom. Moviegoers are no longer satisfied     2     merely watching the show on screen, but eager to step into the scenes and experience the daily lives of the characters. Over the past year, several films and TV dramas     3     (put) their shooting sites into the public spotlight.

Shanghai, often     4     (know) as the “magic city” in China, has once again caught the public’s attention with the recent     5     (popular) of the TV series Blossoms Shanghai (繁花). Key filming locations such as Huangh e Road, Peace Hotel, and Tai Sheng Yuan restaurant have become     6     (high) attractive tourist destinations. Dishes in the show,     7     (feature) delicate cooking techniques, such as Spare Ribs with Rice Cakes and Stir-fried Rice Noodles with Beef, have been favored by tourists. The iconic No. 27 on the Bund (外滩),     8     Miss Wang worked in the TV series, has transformed into Jiushi Art Museum. Since the release of the TV drama in December last year, searches for hotels along Nanjing Road and its     9     (surround) areas have welcomed 7.2 million tourists. This rapid rise in visitors contributed to     10     obvious increase of tourism consumption during the holiday.