4 . The Bedford School has held activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year before the winter vacation—this time with a unique change compared to other years. The celebration is a blend (融合) of traditional food, calligraphy, and a performance using Chinese instruments.

The school’s Chinese Society introduced an art form that attracted the students: Chinese calligraphy. The students were surprised at the combination (结合) of visual art and the interpretation (解读) of literary meaning as they wrote Chinese characters with grace. And they tried their best to make what they wrote correct and beautiful. The students also enjoyed delightful Chinese New Year foods, including spring rolls, rice cake, dumplings. They ate fish-shaped sweets with great enjoyment, symbolizing abundance (富足) for the coming year as the Chinese character for “fish” can also mean “surplus”. The idea behind this is that if we manage to have something left over at the year’s end, then more can be made in the new year. Keeping with tradition, the students exchanged red envelopes filled with sweets, symbolizing good luck and prosperity (繁荣). In Chinese culture, the color red symbolizes good luck and good fortune for the year ahead. This is why red decorations are used during many important cultural festivals and significant events.

Due to(由于)China’s rocketing economy and reputation (声誉), Chinese New Year has become a worldwide event. The Bedford School provided a great opportunity for the students to gain (获得) a deeper understanding of Chinese tradition and culture.

A concert     1     (feature ) ancient China's Tang Dynasty poems was held in Philadelphia, on Friday night January 6 to celebrate the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year.

Echoes of Ancient Tang Poems, the 1.5-hour-long concert attracted more than 2,000audience and brought the Tang Dynasty to life with ancient poems reinterpreted by young international    2     (composer).

    3     concert, presented jointly by Suzhou International Young Artist Festival and the Philadelphia Orchestra, was also held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the orchestra’s historic 1973 tour of China.

Chinese Consul General in New York Huang Ping,     4     made remarks before the show, said, “The Philadelphia Orchestra     5     (become) one of the most popular foreign orchestras in China since the ensemble’s (乐团) trip to China. The stories between the Philadelphia Orchestra and     6     (it) Chinese partners showed that people to people exchange is a constant driving force for China-U. S. relations.”

    7     (found) in 1900, the orchestra was the first U S orchestra to perform in China Since then, it has     8     (frequent) visited the Asian country, serving     9     a bridge for bilateral cultural, educational and people-to-people exchanges. “The concert was marvelous, ”said Jennifer Lin, a local documentary director told Xinhua after the show. “The poetry was     10     (impress) .The singing was beautiful , and the orchestra was fantastic ”