With exotic Silk-Road themed music 【小题1】   (perform) by musicians from the China National Traditional Orchestra, a grand art exhibition titled Silk Road: Artists’ Rendezvous kicked off on the afternoon of Aug 15 at the National Art Museum of China.

Attracting about 40 foreign diplomats and 【小题2】 (representative) from several international organizations, the exhibit presents over 190 works by artists from 112 countries in the Belt and Road Initiative. The exhibit also includes an interactive, immersive unit 【小题3】 visitors may click a mouse or use their fingers on a touch screen 【小题4】 (change) digital versions of the artwork.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism 【小题5】 (invite) influential artists from Europe, Africa, America, Oceania and Asia for field trips, residency programs and workshops across China over the last decade. Drawing inspiration 【小题6】 their China experiences, these artists have created a wide variety of works, including oil paintings, traditional Chinese ink paintings, sculptures and mixed media.

“The Silk Road was important over the centuries. It carried not only silk but also knowledge and cultures,” said Shahbaz Khan, director of UNESCO Beijing, at the opening ceremony.

The Silk Road is 【小题7】 invaluable world heritage to be celebrated for reminding the world of the importance of cultural 【小题8】 (diverse) and cross-cultural communication, Khan said, 【小题9】 (add) “cultural and artistic creations, no matter their specific forms, are all conducive to innovation and sustainable development in a country”.

Khan suggested that the exhibit 【小题10】 (bring) to countries in the Belt and Road Initiative.

“Only when I take the needle out and touch the silk thread, I feel 【小题1】(full)comfortable,” says Zou Yingzi, an inheritor of Su embroidery(刺绣), an ancient craft that originates from the garden city of Suzhou in Jiangsu province.

The day before the interview, 【小题2】 53-year-old woman worked more than 10 hours, until late into the night, on a large piece of Su embroidery. A piece measuring around half a meter can take her months 【小题3】(complete). From Zou’s mother to her grandmothers, all the women in her family are good at needlework, particularly Su embroidery, which features rich stitches(缝针)and the creative use 【小题4】 silk threads dyed in various colors.

Su embroidery has a history of more than 2,000 years. A piece of fabric with silk embroidery 【小题5】(find) from a tomb in the area showed that the craft dates back to the Spring and Autumn Period(770-476 BC). In ancient times, needlework was a must-learn skill for women, 【小题6】 had to make clothes for their families. It was a tradition that mothers should make wedding clothes with exquisite(精美的)embroidery for their 【小题7】(daughter).

Zou 【小题8】(recall)that, when she was little, her grandmother was busy every day, making wedding clothes and quilts for granddaughters. At the age of 6, she started to help her mother to make Su embroidery items, all of which 【小题9】(sell)to support the family.

She had a dream to become a 【小题10】(paint). Now, the needle helps her to realize that dream.

Time flies,but the tracks of time remain in 【小题1】 (variety) artworks and architectural treasures. This is 【小题2】 made a recent tragedy in Paris even 【小题3】 (bad).

On April 15, 2019, Notre Dame cathedral, one of the greatest treasures of the Western world went up in flames, making it a sad day for 【小题4】 the architectural history and the world. It’s no wonder that people felt sad. The 850-year-old cathedral, home 【小题5】 a huge number of artworks, as well as one of the world’ s most famous tourist 【小题6】 (attract),is more than a house of worship but also a symbol of French culture, architecture and history. 【小题7】 (lucky),no one died in the fire and the world - famous stained glass rose windows also survived.

The cathedral became truly famous worldwide after the book “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” 【小题8】 (write) by Victor Hugo, 【小题9】 (publish) in 1831. Hugo wrote the book to remind people 【小题10】   (protect) the beautiful old buildings of Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to reconstruct the historic building in a public speech following the fire.