Colorful lanterns are lighting up China's night sky, as activities begin across the country to celebrate Lantern Festival today.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (date) back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 25), the Lantern Festival is held on the 15th day of the first lunar month {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(mark) the first full moon of the lunar new year.

    You Guoqing, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} folk custom expert in Tianjin, said the Lantern Festival was about going out for a colorful celebration rather than a family get-together. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}watching lanterns, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} is also a day to appreciate the full moon, solve lantern riddles, watch art {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(performance) and eat tang yuan.

    The festival was once also a time for romantic encounters. In feudal times, young women were not allowed to go out {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(free), but Lantern Festival was an exception, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} young men and women could meet up.

    Some aspects of the festival, such as its romantic atmosphere, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (fade), but people {#blank#}10{#/blank#} see the Lantern Festival as a day to rejoice and a chance to wish for happiness.

    Nowadays, there are a lot of reminding days in the world. World Read Aloud Day is celebrated each year on the first Wednesday of March. It{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(start) by the LitWorld.org website in 2010 and has now reached 65 countries.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}aim is to encourage people worldwide who cannot read to enjoy the benefits of a book. The website asks everyone{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(celebrate) the day by taking a book, finding an audience and reading out aloud. It is about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(belong) to all people. The website asks visitors to join in the movement to reduce the number of illiterate(不识字的) people in the world. It is{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(absolute) necessary to help those{#blank#}6{#/blank#}cannot read. The website says, “It's time to start by reading aloud to{#blank#}7{#/blank#}might like it. Share a book with a child who might need it, share a story with someone who would treasure it, listen patiently{#blank#}8{#/blank#}someone else's story as they share with you.” The United Nations says, ”Literacy involves a{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(vary) of learning in{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(enable) individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and to participate fully in society.” In that way, World Read Aloud Day does help make a difference.

    Wallace's giant bee is the world's {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (large) bee, with a body the size of a human thumb and wings that can spread to about 2.5 inches. That may sound {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (frighten), but the bee isn't likely to hurt anyone. It uses its large jaws (嘴) to collect a sticky goo, called resin, from trees. The bee {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (make) its home in termite mounds (白蚁丘) found on trees, using the resin to protect its nest from the termites. Until recently, the bee had been seen by scientists only {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (two), once in 1868 and again in 1981.

    Has Jackie Chan retired? Surprise! He released a new film. A repeat of his action film in {#blank#}1{#/blank#} 1970s, Police Story 2013 is about a {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (devote) policeman named Zhong Wen (Jackie), {#blank#}3{#/blank#} works so hard that he doesn't have time for his family.

    As Zhong Wen is occupied {#blank#}4{#/blank#} his job, his daughter Miaomiao (played by Jing Tian) becomes rebellious (叛逆的) and gets into a relationship with the bar owner Wu Jiang (played by Liu Ye). Miaomiao asks Zhong to meet her at her boyfriend's bar, not {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (know) that she's being used by Wu Jiang to get to her father. Wu Jiang then keeps the bar's customers as hostages (人质) and asks for the freedom of Fu, a {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (crime) captured by Zhong years ago.

    Jackie Chan said that {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (physical), he had a hard time with the film because he did the fight scenes with real mixed martial arts fighters. "The fights were with genuine MMA (mixed martial arts) boxers, not stunt (替身) men," Jackie Chan revealed (透露). "So, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} didn't know how to control their strength when we {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (film) the fight sequences (片段). Those were rock-hard and solid kicks.”

    Police Story 2013, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (bring) by Megavision Inc, will be on at the cinema on January 22.

    Across the world people prepare and drink tea in many {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(difference) ways. The handmade purple clay teapot (紫砂壶) is one of the most popular{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(item)among tea lovers in Asia. But the skill of making that particular teapot faces a lot of challenges in modern times.

    Chinese people {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(drink)tea for thousands of years. And {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(recent), these handmade teapots have become popular. As an old saying goes, "A thing is valued if it is rare."

    Tea sets (茶具) have been a key part of Chinese culture. Gao Dezhi, 99, has been making purple clay teapots since he was 13 years old. Usually, this kind of skill {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(pass) down from generation to generation or taught to those {#blank#}6{#/blank#} are crazy about the craft. Gao says that his son and daughter are not {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(interest) in learning such skills. They already earn a lot of money by {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (work) in other jobs. People cannot make such things {#blank#}9{#/blank#} they have no interest in learning the skill, he says.

    In order to protect skills {#blank#}10{#/blank#} disappearing, local people have built a special museum where masters can show their craft.

    The Amber Room was considered one of the wonders of the world. It {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (design) for the palace of Frederick I and thought highly of {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (it) fancy style and design. The whole{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (decorate) of the Amber Room was very splendid (富丽堂皇). Tons of amber as well as gold and jewels were used to make it, which makes it an {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (amaze) treasure.

    However, the next king of Prussia, Frederick William Ⅰ, decided to give it as {#blank#}5{#/blank#} gift to the Russian Emperor, Peter the Great, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} gave Prussia a troop of their best soldiers in return.

    Unfortunately, during the Second World War, the Nazi Germany was {#blank#}7{#/blank#} war with Russia. Nazis invaded Russia and some of Nazis {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (secret) removed many objects from the Amber Room. After that, what happened to it {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(remain) a mystery.

    Recently, the Russians and Germans {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (build) a new Amber Room at the summer palace so that they can appreciate it and remember the history.