Before the Tangshan Earthquake, Strange things    1    (happen) in the countryside. For several days, the water in the village wells     2       ( rise) and fell. There were deep cracks     3       appeared in the well walls. At least one well had some     4     (smell) gas coming out of it. Chickens and even pigs were too nervous     5     (eat), and dogs refused to go inside buildings.    6     (mouse)ran out of the fields looking for places to hide, and fish jumped out of the water. At about 3:00 a.m.,    7    28 July 1976, bright lights     8     (see) in the sky outside the city of Tangshan and loud noises were heard.       9       the city’s one million people were asleep as usual that night.     10       (fortunately), it led to a lot of people losing their lives.

Those who make great discoveries must often overcome many challenges along the way — as was the case with the explorer Christopher Columbus.

Columbus insisted     1    searching for a direct sea route to the East Indies by sailing across the Atlantic ocean. After continuous attempts, he received    2    (finance) support from the King and Queen of Spain. On 3 August 1492, he departed from Spain with three ships    3    (carry) about 90 crewmen. The journey was full of challenges: it took longer than expected, they faced a    4    (short) of food, and one of the ships was leaking badly,     5     put everyone on this ship in grave danger. The men on board were in panic. Regardless of all the challenges, Columbus managed    6    (keep) everyone out of danger with his knowledge and bravery across the ocean.     7    (Final), on 12 October, the crew spotted land in    8    distance. Columbus called the natives living on the islands Indians because he    9     (convince) that he was in the East Indies. However, the shores they     10    (reach) were of the Caribbean, not the East Indies.

Woodblock printing first appeared in the early Tang period. During the Song dynasty, the technique of block printing was very advanced. Books were     1    (beautiful) printed. Even today the books     2    (print) at the time are valuable and treasured by libraries and book collectors.

However, block printing     3    (be) not very convenient. Every two pages of a book had to be carved on a woodblock, and a big book would require many blocks. Besides, there had to be large places for storing the books.     4     (overcome) these shortcomings, Bi Sheng invented the movable type during the years between 1041 and 1048. One word was carved on one piece of clay,     5     was hardened with fire. Then clay characters were set on     6     iron plate according to the text of a book. Then ink was applied to them and     7    (sheet) of paper spread over them, and the printing was done. Bi Sheng’s invention made printing faster and     8    (easy) than before. Later, movable type of metal and wood was made and widely used.

The technique of printing was gradually known to other Asian countries and Europe. The great influence printing had     9    the advance of civilization is too clear to need any     10    (explain).