Delicate, shining, and soft to the touch. The fabric called silk     1     (find) its way into the heart of Chinese people in the past thousands of years.     2     origin of it is not clear, but the ancient Chinese people     3     (credit) their own wisdom to Leizu, wife of the Yellow Emperor, as the inventor of sericulture (养蚕业).

The style and texture (质地) of silk are     4     (variety). Hangluo satin from Hangzhou,Zhejiang province, is famous for its airy and thin texture,     5     Yunjin brocade from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, a luxurious fabric often     6     (use) for royal clothes, represents China’s silk weaving (纺织) technique at its best time. Yunjin brocade is best made     7    hand, in a complex procedure that comprises more than a hundred steps. Even the most skilled artisans can only weave a few centimeters a day.

In the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC—AD 24), with Zhang Qian     8     (open) up the routes to the western regions, silk graced countries in Central Asia, and later other parts of Eurasia and beyond.     9     (appropriate), its name marked China’s major international trade     10     (route), the ancient Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road.

As one of the wonders of ancient China, silk is not merely a type of fabric but a cultural symbol and a representative of elegance.

Every year the Weifang International Kite Festival     1    (amaze) visitors with colorful kites. The origin of kites in China can be traced back to the Warring States Period    2     the great Chinese philosopher Mozi in the State of Lu made the first “wooden kite”. In 1984, the first Weifang International Kite Festival was held.

Kites     3     (use) in China for military purposes at the very beginning. They were made to signal and measure distance,    4     (provide) intelligence to aid moving large armies across difficult terrain (地形). Over time, kites became connected with leisure activities    5    were often flown during festivals and     6     (holiday).

The Weifang Kite Festival is not only the best platform     7     (share) kite-making skills, but also     8     good way to improve friendship between people from different countries. The kites presented in 2023 brought various surprises to kite lovers all over the world, and brought the people of China and other countries much     9     (close). As one netizen put it, “No matter how far away kite lovers go, there is always a ‘thread’ in their heart that can pull     10    (they) together.”

More than 500 pieces of relics     1     (discover) in recent months at the legendary Sanxingdui Ruins site in Southwest China’s Sichuan province, dazzling archaeologists with their historical value as well as the display of creativity.

The relics, discovered at the six new sacrificial pits of the ruins, include golden masks, jade and ivory artifacts and bronze wares     2     were delicately built and     3     (unique) shaped, said the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Heritage Administration.

The new finds bring the total number of items discovered at Sanxingdui to nearly 2,000     4     the excavation (挖掘) of No.3 to No.8 sacrificial pits began in October last year.

“The new discoveries demonstrate once again that     5     (imagine) and creativity of the ancient Chinese far surpassed     6     people today have expected,” said Tang Fei, chief of the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute.

Tang added that the excavation of the new pits has entered a critical stage,     7     more items yet to be unearthed and expected to challenge the conventional     8     (wise) of archaeologists.

Originally discovered in the late 1920s, the Sanxingdui Ruins have been referred to as one of the world’s greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century.

Located in the city of Guanghan, around 60 km from the provincial capital Chengdu, the ruins covering     9     area of 12 square km are believed to be the remains of the Shu Kingdom,     10     (date) back some 4,500 to 3,000 years.

6 . The Silk Road is the name of different roads that long ago connected Europe, Africa and Asia. People reached these different places along these roads. Scientists believe people began to travel the Silk Road about 3000 years ago. By the time the Chinese silk trade became important in the world, the Silk Road covered almost 6500 kilometers. It spread from Rome to China, which is from the West to the Far East.

Traders travelling along the Silk Road carried silk, of course. They also carried and traded spices (香料), cloth, valuable stones and gold.

There is a famous old story along the old road. It is said that Roman soldiers travelled through central Asia. They started to live somewhere near the ancient Chinese village of Liqian. Sortie of these Romans married local Chinese women and the story of blue-eyed villages of China was started.

During its busiest period, the Silk Road allowed people from many different cultures and countries to meet each other and mix. The Silk Road allowed the sharing of valuable goods and new ideas. These included people and trading goods from the Mediterranean, Persian, Magyar, Armenian, Bactrian, Indian and Chinese areas. All these peoples travelled the Silk Road, and they shared goods, stories, languages, and cultures.

In modern times, the old Silk Road routes (路线) are still used, but now they are crossed by trains instead of camels and horses. There is even a Silk Route Museum in Jiuquan in China. It has over 35,000, objects from all along the Silk Road. In this way, China protects the history of many countries and peoples.

The game of basketball was created by Dr. Naismith,    1    Canadian who worked as a physical education instructor at the Springfield College.

The New England winters were very cold, and the students were unwilling to do outdoor     2    (activity). Naismith decided to invent a fast-moving game    3    could be played indoors. First he tried to change outdoor games such as soccer to indoor play, but he soon found them    4    (suitable) for small areas.    5    December of 1891, Naismith hung two old peach baskets at either end of the gym at the school. Then the first basketball game was organized,     6    (use) a soccer ball and nine players on each side.

Five years later, a championship (锦标赛)    7    (hold) in New York City. By that time, the team had reduced to seven players and five became standard in the 1897 season.

    8    basketball first appeared in the 1904 Olympic Games, it     9    (quick) spread throughout the world. In 1906, a metal ring was used    10    (replace) the basket for the first time, but the name basketball has remained.

Delicate, lustrous (光亮的), and soft to touch. The ethereal fabric we now call silk has threaded its way throughout China’s history.

One cannot be certain of its origin, but the ancient Chinese people credited their own wisdom to Leizu, wife of the Yellow Emperor (the legendary ancestor of all Chinese people), as     1     inventor of sericulture (养蚕).

Like almost all genres of art on the vast land of China, the style and texture of silk     2    (be) also multifarious. Hangluo satin from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, is well known     3     its airy and sheer texture, while Yunjin brocade (凸花纹织物) from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, a luxurious fabric often     4    (use) for royal garments, represents China’s silk weaving technique at its prime.

Yunjin brocade     5    (make) by hand on giant looms (织布机), in a complex procedure     6     comprises more than a hundred steps. Even the most skilled artisans can only weave a few centimeters a day. Time, patience and deftness all play necessary roles to its heavenly beauty or as its name suggests, its cloud-like splendor.

In the Western Han Dynasty, with diplomat and explorer Zhang Qian     7    (open) up the routes to the western regions, silk graced many     8    (country) in Central Asia, later extending its reach to other parts of Eurasia and beyond. Fittingly, its name marked China’s major international trade routes, the ancient Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road.

In the hands of Chinese artists, the     9    (thin) threads can weave pictures of immense possibilities, and the softest material can go through thousands of years. As one of the many marvels of ancient China, silk is not     10     (mere) a type of textile. It is a cultural icon, and a symbol of elegance and grace.