The Shoton Festival is one of    1    (important) festivals for ethnic Tibetans. “Sho” means yogurt and “Ton” banquet in the Tibetan language, so the Shoton Festival    2    (call) the “Yogurt Festival.” as well. The seven-day event occurs between the end of the sixth     3     the beginning of the seventh month of the Tibetan calendar.

Originating(起源) from the mid-11th century, the Shoton Festival used to be a religious activity. After 1642, the Drepung Monastery(寺庙),     4     the fifth Dalai Lama, leader of the Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, lived became the     5    (politics), religious and cultural center of Xizang. Every year on the 30th day of the sixth month, thousands of people would crowd     6     the monastery to present yogurt to the fifth Dalai Lama and asked for     7    (bless). Local Tibetan Opera troupes would also come to perform for him at the monastery. Since then, the Shoton Festival     8    (become) a religious and cultural festival.

During the period of the eighth Dalai Lama    9    (live) in the mid-18th century, the main venue of the Shoton Festival was moved to Norbulingka and ordinary people were allowed     10    (enter) to watch Tibetan Opera performances. From then on, the Shoton Festival became a fixed festival.