There are all kinds of festivals throughout the world. Festivals are held{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (satisfy) and please the ancestors, to honor some famous people or important{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(event), and to express people's gratitude to the God for bringing them a year of plenty. For example, in India, October 2 is {#blank#}3{#/blank#}national festival to honor  Mahandas Gandhi, the leader{#blank#}4{#/blank#}helped gain India's {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(depend) from Britain.{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (tradition), in China the Spring Festival, which {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(celebrate) in January or February, is the most {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(energy) and important because it is a festival that looks forward{#blank#}9{#/blank#}the coming of spring. Why are all these festivals everywhere? Because during the festivals, people can get together to eat, drink and have fun with each other,{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (forget) all the daily struggle and demands for a while.

    French artist Dufresne has turned to Chinese characters to explore art.

    His ongoing show at Yishu 8, a nonprofit and art space in Beijing, has installations (装置) on which some characters{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (paint) and visitors can play word games by moving them around to make new characters. Each Chinese character has different parts. Separating or {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (combine) these parts creates new things. For example ,the character of lin (forest), when put on the top of xi (dusk) becomes meng (dream).

    He {#blank#}3{#/blank#} ( produce) them by first asking Chinese people he met in the streets, at parks and tourist spots,{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(write) different characters with ink brushes on paper, and then painted them onto large wooden boards, trying to make the characters look {#blank#}5{#/blank#} close to their original handwritten forms as possible.

    “Each character{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (vivid) reminds me of the person who wrote it. To me, the writer and the character seem to share the same personality,” says Dufresne. He sees the characters as the human body in motion. An ancient character {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (photograph) by himself at a Chinese museum appears to him like “a person walking”.

    Christine Cayol,{#blank#}8{#/blank#} is the founder of Yishu 8, says the young artist has provided “poetic viewpoint” his work by trying to create a {#blank#}9{#/blank#} ( connect) between Chinese characters {#blank#}10{#/blank#} the human body.

    Gymnast Shawn Johnson is my favorite athlete. Back at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I was very {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (excite) when she won the gold medal on the balance beam. Years later, Shawn wrote an autobiography, Winning Balance. I was only ten years old{#blank#}2{#/blank#}she wrote her book and I wanted to wait a few years to read {#blank#}3{#/blank#} since I had a feeling that I wouldn't understand the book then.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (release) in June 2012, the book won much popularity among her fans.

    Shawn talks about her experiences as a gymnast and her post-Olympic life in her book. One of the things that she wants her readers{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(get) from reading the book is that “behind all the glory and glitz(浮华) I am able to have a normal life”. She hopes that her reader, especially {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (girl) in middle school and high school, will get really{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(encourage) by reading her book and believe that dreams will{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(actual) come true. I believe that gymnasts around the world {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(take) a lot from this book because in some situations they experience {#blank#}10{#/blank#} same things in gymnastics.

    How will our continuously growing population affect our way of life, our environment, even our planet? No matter how you look at it, we will face {#blank#}1{#/blank#}extremely serious problem. By the middle of the 21st century, we {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(use) up all the oil that drives our cars if at the rate we're going. Even if scientists develop some new {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(way)of feeding the human race, the crowded conditions on the earth will make {#blank#}4{#/blank#}necessary for us to look for open space somewhere else. But none of the planets in our solar system are able {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(support) life at present. One possible solution {#blank#}6{#/blank#}the problem, however, has recently been suggested by an American scientist, Professor Carl Sagan. His idea is {#blank#}7{#/blank#}before the earth's resources are almost exhausted, it will be {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(total)possible to change the atmosphere of Venus（金星）and so create a new world almost as large as earth itself.

    However, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}his idea is turned into reality, humans have a long way to go. On the one hand, Venus is much {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(hot)than the earth; on the other hand, there is only a tiny amount of water there.

    China's research icebreaker Xuelong, {#blank#}1{#/blank#}126 crew members aboard on the 35th Antarctic research mission, on Thursday local time left the Zhongshan Station on {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (it) way back to China.

    Snow Eagle 601, China's first fixed-wing aircraft for polar flight, on Thursday night also departed from the Antarctic after {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(complete)all assignments.

    Xuelong, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} arrived near Zhongshan on Feb 9, supplied the station with fuel oil, and then picked up summer expedition team members at the Kunlun, Taishan and Zhongshan stations, as well as {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(member)of the fixed-wing aircraft project.

    Sixteen members of the Kunlun team {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(previous) completed all scientific expeditions at Dome Argus (Dome A), the South Pole's highest icecap. They, together with 21 members of the Taishan team, {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(return) to Zhongshan on Feb 8.

    The Zhongshan team completed tasks including installation of and tests for LiDAR, drilling of ice bed rock, atmospheric sounding {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(observe), surveys of birds and aerial exploration carried out by the fixed-wing aircraft.

    As the summer expedition team at Zhongshan left, 19 members would stay for winter expeditions.

    Also {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(know)as the Snow Dragon, the icebreaker carrying a research team set sail from Shanghai on Nov 2 last year, beginning {#blank#}10{#/blank#}country's 35th Antarctic expedition. It is expected to arrive in Shanghai in mid-March.