First impressions

As a huge art fan, I knew exactly what I was looking forward to most about my trip to Paris: visiting the Musée d'Orsay.     1     (house) in an old railway building, this world-famous art museum features some of the best-known paintings from the Impressionist movement of the 19th century.

As I wandered through the Impressionist gallery, I     2     (appreciate) masterpieces like The Ballet Class and The Card Players. Even though I had admired them hundreds of times on my computer screen,     3     could have prepared me for the wonder I felt when I finally laid eyes on the real thing. While it was hard     4     (pick) a favourite painting out of so many amazing works, the artists who made the deepest     5     (impress) on me were two of the greatest Impressionist painters, Claude Mone Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

I could see from Monet's works that he was     6     (great) inspired by nature. In the last three decades of his life he painted mostly scenes from his garden. One of these scenes     7    (show) in the famous piece Blue Water Lilies,     8     I studied for quite a while in the gallery. I couldn't believe it when I heard he did around 250 paintings of the same water lily pond, all     9     different colores and styles. It is     10     (amaze) that every time Monet studied this simple scene, he brought the pond’s beauty to the canvas in a unique way.

Comfort food

Comfort foods vary from person to person, depending on our own unique experiences that have shaped out lives. If we grow up     1     (take) certain foods in our family, then those foods tend to be linked with positve emotions. For example, we often connect chicken soup with     2    happy childhood and its flavour becomes     3     (tie) up with the feeling of being taken care of. When we eat it again, we unlock memories of a time     4    we were loved and looked after, and this cheers us up.

The feeling of     5     (happy) and sense of belonging can become particularly important for people who move away from their home country. According to some food experts, there     6    (be) some aspects of culture that people will lose right away, but with food, there are more opportunities     7     (connect) to memory, family and place. It is hardest to give up the food that you grow up with. Of course, each person's food     8     (large) depends on where they come from—for a Chinese it might be a plate of dumplings with a saucer of vinegar, and     9     a native of the UK it might be classic fish and chips, served hot, salty and sour. One mouthful of comfort food takes us back to our     10     (culture) roots, giving us the "taste of home" that we cry out for and relieving feelings of homesickness.

Li Bai and his romantic poetry

Li Bai's love of reading and travelling from an early age contributed to his romantic style. He started studying the classics     1     he was only five years old, and was reading ancient philosophers of different schools at the age of ten, including Confucianism and Taoism. By reading books of all kinds, from legends to historical stories, he     2     (familiar) himself with classical Chinese culture, and more     3    (important), he acquired the wisdom of previous generations.

    4     (drive) by a burning desire for adventure and travel, Li Bai left home and started to travel around in his early twenties. His footsteps covered almost     5     whole country. During his travels, he visited famous mountains and great rivers,     6     (encounter) different customs and practices. These travelling experiences also nourished his love of nature and inspired him     7     (write) numerous poems in the romantic style.

Li Bai's romantic style was also deeply rooted in the social and historical context in which he lived. Li Bai grew up in the most     8     (glory) period of the Tang Dynasty, a time of economic boom and social     9    (stable). This open and tolerant atmosphere allowed Li Bai the liberty to develop a free and unconstrained personality,     10    , in turn, had a huge impact on his poetic production.

How to read a poem

Poetry is a combination of "sound" and "sense". More than any other type of literature, it usually implies a deeper meaning     1     the words on the page. So, how to reveal this hidden dimension?

First, follow your ears. While you may ask "What does it mean?" as you begin reading a poem, it is     2     (good) to ask "How does it sound?" Even if its true meaning appears to be your grasp, you can always say something about     3     the poem sounds when you read it aloud.

Second, approach the poem as if you     4     (be) an explorer in an unfamiliar landscape. As you explore the poem, you will begin to see images in your mind. As you     5     (slow) explore your surroundings, you will start to dig up clues that give you     6     greater understanding of the poem.

Third, if you are still struggling     7    (interpret) the meaning of a poem even with much painstaking effort, just have some patience. You cannot really understand a poem that you have only read once.

Finally, remember that you do not have to fully understand a poem to appreciate     8    . You might need to abandon logical thinking to discover its true inner beauty.

Poetry's combination of "sound" and "sense"     9     (make) you see the world in a new way and allows you to go beyond normal     10     (real) for the everlasting beauty.

Qingming Scroll

Zhang Zeduan's Qingming Scroll is a masterwork of Chinese art. Painted on a five-metre-long silk scroll, it offers an important insight into life in China in the 12^th century. It is commonly believed that the city     1     (describe) in the painting is Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng), the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. The ancient has survived the test of time     2     (remarkable) well, and is currently housed in th Palace Museum in Beijing.

The scroll consists of three main sections. The first section presents a peaceful scene of rural life near Bianjing,     3     (feature) crop fields, a river winding through the landscape, and farmers hard at work. The second section shows the riverbanks and central bridge alive with activity     4     boats sail in and out of Bianjing. Civilians can also be seen     5     (walk) through the city gate in both directions. The third and final section     6     (picture) life inside the city itself. Here, hundreds of people from all walks of life, including butchers, hairdressers and government officials, can be seen going     7     their daily business. The     8     (combine) of these three sections gives the viewer an idea of what life was like for the people of Bianjing.

Zhang's amazing artistic technique is apparent all across the scroll. Using ink on silk, he creates     9     (reality) images of scenery, buildings and people, and displays a remarkable mastery of perspective. The most impressive aspect of the painting,     10    , is probably Zhang's precise brushwork.

Beethoven: a remarkable life

Symphony No. 9 was Beethoven’s last major piece of music in a vast body of works written throughout his remarkable life. As a     1     (gift) child, Beethoven was pushed by his father to study music day and night. Not long after, he began     2    (appreciate) for his piano performances. By the time he was a teenager, he had already enjoyed a reputation as     3     wonderful young musician. Many important figures in the music world, including the brilliant musician Mozart, started making     4     (predict) about Beethoven’s extraordinary future. However, life took a sharp turn. In his late twenties, Beethoven suffered one of the     5     (bad) possible twists for a musician: he started to lose his hearing.

The loss of his hearing deeply     6     (depress) Beethoven. He was so upset that, at first, he wanted to keep it a secret. Even in his darkest moments, however, Beethoven never abandoned hope.     7     his hearing loss, he was determined to find a way to continue living a life full of music. He used a variety of hearing aids to try to increase the amount of sound he could take in. When     8     (compose) music at the piano, he would put one end of a pencil in his mouth and place the other end against the instrument so that he could feel the notes.     9     Beethoven was able to continue composing music, it became     10     (increase) difficult for him to perform in public. When Beethoven presented Symphony No. 9 in Vienna in 1824, it was his first time on stage in over ten years.

Understanding culture through music

Last night, I watched a performance of Butterfly Lovers, a piece that really deserves     1    (hear).

The music took me through the twists and turns of a classic story about a young couple     2     (tear) apart by their families. When the two lovers, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, first meet, the music is light and pleasant, as if     3    (whisper) to the audience. It is followed by a fast and cheerful section which represents their three happy years of school. Then the music gets dramatic with     4    (heavy) notes and that is when the lovers are separated     5     Zhu's father forces her to marry another man. Angry and sad, Liang falls and dies. Zhu weeps     6     (bitter) over the loss of her love. Overcome with sorrow, she jumps into his grave. Finally, during     7     most exciting part, the music takes a softer turn and ends on a bittersweet note, telling us how the couple transform     8     butterflies and fly away to be together forever.

Butterfly Lovers combines Chinese and Western musical elements: it     9    (play) on Western instruments such as the violin, but more significantly, much of the music has its roots in Chinese Yue Opera. This unique     10     (combine) made me realize that music is indeed a universal language.

Eating in China

The mouth-watering hot pots of Sichuan are as famous overseas as they are in China, and the hot flavour is enough to heat up a cold midwinter evening or to let loose rivers of sweat on a summer afternoon. I gave it my     1     (one) try last night, together with a few local friends! As the soup bubbled slowly over a gas burner in the middle of the table, its surface     2    (cover) with a beautiful layer of chillies, Sichuan peppers, spring onions and red oil.     3     (slow) at first, and then faster and faster, we tipped plates of fresh meat, fish and vegetables into the pot. The hot flavour quickened our     4     (laugh) and conversation, making the meal the perfect way to relax with friends.

Sichuan hot pots are perfect for the damp, foggy climate     5     which they were invented. They are believed     6    (start) off in the late Qing Dynasty as a way for boatmen on the Yangtze River to keep warm during the cold and wet winters. In the beginning, the delicious dish was made simply by     7     (boil) vegetables, chillies and Sichuan peppers in water. Over time, it     8    (expand) to include multiple options of soups, vegetables, meats and sauces, appealing to people of different tastes.     9     I love best about Sichuan hot pots is that they offer a great opportunity to socialize with friends since a meal can last for hours. I instantly became     10     big fan of Sichuan hot pots and I’ll soon be back for more!