A man took a pair of shoes to a shoe repair shop and said to the shoemaker, "I'd like you to repair these shoes for me, please."

    "Certainly, sir, "the shoemaker said.

    "When will they be ready?" the man asked.

    "I'm a bit busy, but they'll be ready for you on Thursday." he said. "That's fine, "the man said, and left the shop.

    The next morning he received a letter, offering him a job in another country. Within 24 hours he was on an airplane to his new job.

    Twenty years passed and he returned to his home town. He remembered his shoes. "They were a good pair of shoes," he thought. "I wonder if the shoemaker is still there and still has them. I'll go and see. "He was pleased to see that the shoemaker was still in the same shop, although he was an old man by now.

    "Good morning, "he said to him." Twenty years ago, I brought in a pair of shoes to be repaired. Do you think you've still got them?"

    "Name?" the old shoemaker asked.

    "Smith, "the man said.

    "I'll go and see. They may be out back. "

    The shoemaker went out to the back of his shop and a few minutes later returned, carrying the pair of shoes.

    "Here we are, "he said." One pair of brown shoes to be repaired. I'm a bit busy now, but they'll probably be ready on Thursday."

    Zhao Yishen, the 33-year-old artist, is carving a woodblock (雕刻木板) carefully, with a chisel in his right hand. To carve the woodblocks, he has to hold this position for six hours. He has been carving woodblocks since 2012. “It feels good and looks beautiful when a Chinese character slowly appears on the woodblock under your chisel," says Zhao.

    Zhao is now the only full-time carver working at a workshop that creates woodblock-printed books in Beijing. As a teenager he loved to read ancient Chinese books in the library, and the curiosity of how the books were made led him to get a job at an ancient books woodblock printing studio in Yangzhou in 2011 after graduating as a law major from university.

    Block printing was listed as a UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009. Zhao started to learn the skill from Chen Yishi, one of the skill's masters, in 2012.

    "The first step is to learn how to sharpen your chisel, "says Zhao. “After using it for a while, you need to sharpen it again." After that, the woodblock must be put at a certain angle that is deep enough to show up the characters and also to make sure the cuts are deep enough-but not too deep. Then Zhao puts the paper, face down, onto the wood after brushing oil on the paper. This helps to transfer the characters onto the block. Once the carving is finished, the woodblock is brushed with ink and paper pressed onto it. It is ready to print.

    In Zhao's mind, the inked woodblock is a work of art. After a year of learning from Chen, Zhao found a job at Zhuyu Shanfang in 2013. His carved woodblocks have been used for several books over the past six years. "I just learned the basic skills, but to master it, I still need years of practice,” says Zhao. “A good craftsman can carve an entire book with every single character aligned in order."

Once upon a time, there was an old man who usually went to the seaside to do his writing. He had a habit of walking {#blank#}1{#/blank#} the beach before he began his writing.

One day, he saw a figure(身影) moving like {#blank#}2{#/blank#} dance r while walking along the seaside. He smiled to {#blank#}3{#/blank#}( he) and thought maybe he could see a dance here. And so, he walked faster.

As he got {#blank#}4{#/blank#}( close), he noticed that it was a young woman. She was not dancing at all. Instead, she bent down(弯腰) to pick up something and then she {#blank#}5{#/blank#}( throw) it into the sea.

So the old man called out," Good morning! May I ask {#blank#}6{#/blank#} you are doing?"

The young woman paused, looked up, and answered," I am throwing starfish into the sea."

"{#blank#}7{#/blank#} really surprised me a lot. Why are you throwing starfish into the sea?" asked the old man.

To this, the young woman {#blank#}8{#/blank#}( reply)," The sun is up and the tide is going out. IfI don't throw them in, they' ll die."

Upon hearing this, the old man said," But there are {#blank#}9{#/blank#}( mile) of beach and there are starfish all along every mile. You can't possibly make a difference!"

At this, the woman picked up another {#blank#}10{#/blank#}( one) and put it into the sea. As it met the water, she said," It made a difference to that one."

A foreign musician came to China by chance and settled down for 19 years. His song about China was praised by a Chinese person as"I can't imagine {#blank#}1{#/blank#} more beautiful song about China." It sounds improbable, but this is {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(exact) what happened to Mark Levine, a 75-year-old from the US.

 Levine first came to China in 2005 and worked {#blank#}3{#/blank#} an English teacher in Huai' an. He moved to Beijing to teach at Minzu University three years later. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} China has thousands of foreign English teachers, Levine stands out from the rest. He received China's Friendship Award, the nation's {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(high) honor for a foreigner. The award{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(give) to 100 foreign experts each year.

 He wrote down his experiences and published {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(they) in a book called Stories from My Chinese Journey. He also wrote songs about China and received {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(invite) to perform in many activities. "When I am singing Chinese songs to Western audience, my wish is{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(introduce) China to Westerners." Levine said, He {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(write) over 80 songs since he moved to Beijing in 2007.