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.

    We think that life in Chinese high school is a hard experience in which we have to survive mountains of homework and all kinds of exams. Yet would it be{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(surprise) if I tell you that high school life in the US is almost as hard {#blank#}2{#/blank#} it is in China?

    In US high school, everything must {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(record) into your studying document(文件), including your grades, tests and final examinations. Failing {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(turn) in your homework on time will directly affect your grade for a certain course. Perhaps completely different from {#blank#}5{#/blank#}we used to think of the US high school students, they pay great attention to {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(they) study in order that they can get into a good university.

    Like university students, US high school students can choose the {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(course) that most interest them freely. Even a ninth-grader can sit {#blank#}8{#/blank#} the same classroom as 12th-graders. But this also {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(mean) he or she has to work very hard, because the teacher will not treat him or her {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(different).

    Long ago, there lived in Greece a learned man. He was so well-known{#blank#}1{#/blank#}his knowledge of almost everything that lots of people from all over the country came to learn from him. The great man{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(teach) his students whole-heartedly and answered their questions with great{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(patient).

    One day, a student asked him, “My dear teacher, didn't you say you yourself have many more questions about things than we do?{#blank#}4{#/blank#}I think we students have far more than you.”

    With a smile on his face, the teacher drew two circles, one as large as a big cake, the other smaller. Then he said, “Of course, I have learned much more. But it is wrong{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(think) a teacher has fewer questions than his students. Now, look at these two circles. The inside of the{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(big) one is my knowledge of things, and the inside of the smaller one is{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(your). Out of the circles is what is still unknown to us. Since mine is larger, I have to use the longer line to draw the bigger circle. That means I have more opportunities to face something{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(know). And that's{#blank#}9{#/blank#}I myself have more questions than you do. The{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(much) you learn, the more questions you have. You will never learn enough, you know.”

    Music is in the corners of everyday life. It is said to be beneficial to us both {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(physical) and mentally.

    There are many ways to make music. For example, if you blow into bamboos or shells, {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(permit) air to come in, they can produce pleasant music. A recent discovery suggests that music was played much earlier than we think. In 1995, deep in {#blank#}3{#/blank#} cave in Slovenia {#blank#}4{#/blank#}was occupied 45,000 years ago by Neanderthals, a leg bone of a bear with four finger holes was found. The discovery suggested that flutes（笛子）had come into {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (exist) at that time. Later, many other {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(tradition) musical instruments like drums were dug out from underground. Ancient people even {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(seek) a way to make music out of a bow that {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(intend) for hunting, so we have to admit that they did have a great gift {#blank#}9{#/blank#} music. But if exactly dated, the Neanderthal flute is by far the {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(early) known example of music.

    Now music can be found in every known culture, and even the most distant groups have a certain form of music.

    Chinese art is a visual art that is practiced in China or by Chinese artists. The Chinese art of overseas Chinese can also be viewed {#blank#}1{#/blank#}part of Chinese art, because it is based on Chinese culture.

    Early" stone age art" dates back to 10,000 BC, mostly {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(consist) of simple pottery and sculptures. After that, Chinese art, like Chinese history, is typically classified by dynasty, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}probably lasted several hundred years.

    Chinese art has the oldest continuous tradition in the world. Since the Renaissance, the decorative arts have been{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(extreme) important in Chinese art, especially in Chinese ceramics(陶器).

    Different forms of art have changed under the influence of great philosophers, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(religion) figures and even political figures. Early Chinese poetry {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(influence) by the Book of Songs, and the Chinese poet and statesman Qu Yuan.

    Chinese painting became a highly {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(appreciate) art, including a wide variety of {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(style) such as Ming Dynasty painting. Early Chinese music was based on percussion (打击乐器), which later gave way to stringed instruments. In the Han dynasty paper cutting became {#blank#}9{#/blank#}new art form after the invention of paper. Chinese opera would also be introduced and branched regionally in addition to other {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(perform) formats such as variety shows.