The United Kingdom has a long and interesting history to explore,     1     can help you understand much more about the country and its traditions. Almost everywhere you go in the UK, you will     2     (surround) by evidence of four different groups of people. The first group, the Romans, came in the first century. Some of their great     3     (achieve) included building towns and roads.

The Dragon-Head-Raising Festival falls on the second day of the second lunar month every year, with the dragon     1     (wake) up from its winter hibernation (冬眠) and after the day, rainfall increases.

Traditionally, the dragon is believed to live in the sky     2     he takes charge of bringing rain, which is an important factor in ancient agriculture society. There is an legend     3     one year a drought     4     (strike) a village. Blue Dragon, having compassion for people, gave them some rain without permission. To punish the Dragon, the Jade Emperor imprisoned it in a mountain and said he would never release it     5     gold beans bloomed.     6     clever villager found that com kernels (玉米) were golden like soy beans and more importantly, they could bloom when     7     (roast). Then the man led all the villagers to worship the Jade Emperor with bloomed corm kernels. To keep his word, the Jade Emperor had to release the Dragon on the second day of the second Chinese lunar month. Since then, the Dragon-Head-Raising Festival     8     (celebrate) in various ways in China to show     9     (admire) for the Dragon. The most famous tradition is getting a haircut,     10     (mean) getting rid of bad luck.

The Silk Road was a network of ancient trade routes,     1     joined East Asia to the Mediterranean. The most important network is the Chang’an- Tianshan Corridor,which     2     (stretch) over a distance of around 5,000 kilometres     3     covers a total of 8,700 kilometres of trade routes. The starting point of the corridor and the entire Silk Road network is Chang’an (present-day Xi’an), in Shaanxi Province of north-west China. It was famous as the capital of the Han and Tang Dynasties. The Silk Road was beginning     4     (develop) in the 2nd century BCE.     5     (assign ) by the emperor,the ambassador Zhang Qian journeyed from Chang’an to Central Asia and     6     (seek) to build bridges between the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions.     7     the initial stage of the Silk Road development, silk was the main item in the trade list thanks to its light weight and high value. In addition to trade exchange, the network served as     8     bridge for cultural exchange. All of these     9     (activity) contributed to a great age of     10     (expand) as trade and cultural exchanges gave people access to new goods, knowledge and ideas.

The term Xuan paper was first introduced in the book On Famous Paintings through the Ages by Tang Dynasty (618-907) scholar Zhang Yanyuan. In his book, Zhang described Xuan paper as an ideal     1     (carry) for calligraphy and painting. Handmade Xuan paper from Jingxian county, East China’s Anhui province,     2     (list) as a gift to the imperial court (朝廷) for its top-level quality during that period.

The traditional craft of making Xuan paper is     3     (extraordinary) demanding. It involves a three-year process     4     sandalwood bark (檀香树皮), native to southern China, undergoes 108 procedures together with rice straw (稻草) before it can be transformed     5     fine Xuan paper. The entire procedure is so complex that even the most skilled craftsman can only master     6     limited number of steps.

The flow of ink, both guided and resisted by water, determines the output of Chinese art, and Xuan paper stands out with its exceptional ability     7     (give) full play to ink. Changing the amount of bark versus straw during the papermaking process can produce different canvases (画布) tailored to artistic expression in freehand ink paintings or calligraphy.

Xuan paper     8     (accompany) the passionate brushstrokes of the Chinese literati (文人) for thousands of years. Unlike other forms of paper, it is very resistant to damage     9     (bring) by time. It is this durability     10     has made the preservation of many valuable works from ancient China possible.

Qing Ming is     1     (popular) associated with Jie Zizhui,     2     lived in Shanxi province in 600 B. C. It is said that Jie saved his starving lord's life by serving a piece of his own leg. When the lord succeeded in becoming the ruler of a small country, he invited his faithful follower to join him.     3    , Jie declined his invitation,     4     (prefer) to lead a simple life with his mother in the mountains.

Believing that he could force Jie out by burning the mountain, the lord ordered his men to set fire to the forest. To his disappointment, Jie chose to remain where he was and was burnt to death.     5     (memorize) Jie, the lord ordered all fires in every home to be put out on the anniversary of Jie's death. Thus began the “cold food feast”, a day     6     no food could be cooked since no fire could be lit.

The “cold food” festival occurs on the eve of Qing Ming and     7     (consider) as part of the Qing Ming festival. As time passes, the Qing Ming festival has replaced the “cold food” festival. Whatever practice is observed, the basic observation of Qing Ming is to remember one's elders by making     8     special effort to visit their graves, ashes or ancestral tablets. To make the visit even more     9    (meaning), some time should be spent to remind the younger members of the family of the lives and contributions of their ancestors. One of the most important     10     (activity) on this day is to sweep graves to honor ancestors, dead relatives and friends.