1 . “My painting is both about modern China and traditional China,” 13-year-old Mahshid Ghasemi said on Wednesday when introducing her work, which won the first prize in the first China-themed painting competition for Iranian children and teenagers.

The contest, together organized by the Chinese Embassy in Iran and Iran’s Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (Kanoon), was divided into two age groups, and received 427 paintings from young people across Iran. Each group was awarded one first prize, two second prizes, and three third prizes.

Ghasemi, from Isfahan province, said she used a dragon, fans, and ancient buildings to depict the traditional part of China with red as the main color and illustrated scenes of Chinese people celebrating the Lunar New Year. Meanwhile, in the modern China part, she focuses on China’s skyscrapers and urban development, and there are also celebratory farmers, representing the country ‘s progress in poverty alleviation(减轻，缓解).

Mehrnaz Tolouei, the first prize winner in the 7-11 age group, painted a scene of ancient Persians trading with the Chinese on the ancient Silk Road routes, an idea inspired by his father, Mahmoud Tolouei.

“The ancient Silk Road connected China and Iran,” he said, “the two countries today enjoy a friendly relationship and their cultures should be reunited again to reconnect through these routes.”

Noting that Iranian literary and artistic works contain a lot of Chinese stories and elements, Hamed Alamati, Kanoon’s general manager, said that his institute stands ready to work with the Chinese embassy to further strengthen the exchanges between the young people of the two countries with painting, a common artistic language of mankind, and constantly improve their mutual understanding. “Such efforts will add new strength to the long-standing friendly exchanges between the two countries,” Alamati added.

1. How many awards will be presented with in the competition?

A．Seven.

B．Eleven.

C．Twelve.

D．Thirteen.

2. What does the underlined word “depict”probably mean in Paragraph 3?

A．Paint.

B．Explain.

C．Combine.

D．Describe.

3. Whom does “he” in Paragraph 5 probably refer to?

A．Mahshid Ghasemi.	B．Mehrnaz Tolouei.
C．Mahmoud Tolouei.	D．Hamed Alamati.

4. What do Alamati’s words mean in the last paragraph?

A．Working with more Chinese youths.

B．Being long-standing friendly to each other.

C．Containing more Chinese stories in paintings.

D．Strengthening youth exchange through painting.