It is the first time that Lunyu, or the Analects of Confucius, a collection of ideas and sayings from the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC), 【小题1】(translate) into Maltese(马耳他语). Salvatore Giuffre, Maltese Sinologist and translator of the book speaks fluent Chinese and worked 【小题2】 the Marrese director of Confucius Institute at the University of Malta. Covering teachings on 【小题3】 rulers should do to govern a country, the book counts among the most valuable literary and philosophical works worldwide.

The idea of translating the book came about when China’s Shandong Friendship Publishing House invited Malta’s SKS Publishers to attend a seminar on Confucius in 2017 in East China’s Shandong province, 【小题4】 birthplace of Confucius. The event featured various publications of the book in different languages, and SKS Publishers was asked to 【小题5】(rich) the collection with a Maltese version.

Giuffre spent around two years making the book 【小题6】(access) to Maltese readers, especially to young students. He occasionally consulted versions of the book 【小题7】(write) in modern Chinese to clarify certain ambiguous terms. He also added comments and explanations to make the text easier 【小题8】(understand). “I tried to keep my Maltese version as understandable as possible to enable a 【小题9】(large) circle of readers to benefit from it,” Giuffre says.

【小题10】(look) forward, he says he hopes that China and Malta can strengthen cooperation in the field of publishing and create opportunities for more translation projects of literary works.

There are many varieties of English 【小题1】 differ from each other in different regions around the world today. The different varieties 【小题2】 (distinguish) by their vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation 【小题3】 (different). These different varieties of English developed from a 【小题4】 (combine) of factors such as history, geography, politics and the influence of other languages. Some of the major varieties of English are British English, American English, Canadian English, Australian English, Indian English and Caribbean English. The English 【小题5】 (speak) in Africa varies 【小题6】 country to country. 【小题7】 (consequence), there is Nigerian English, South African English, Kenyan English and so on.

All types of English originated from the English spoken in England. So far, American English 【小题8】 (replace) British English as the most 【小题9】 (influence) variety of English around the world. This is mostly due to 【小题10】 influence of the United States through the cinema and music industries, technology and trade. Today, most “English as a foreign language” (EFL) programmes teach either American or British English.

The Chinese character zhen (振), meaning “vitalize”, 【小题1】 (name) the nation’s most popular character related to domestic affairs this year, while the character wei, 【小题2】 meaning is “risk” or “crisis”, was chosen as 【小题3】 (hot) for international topics. The characters are among a list of popular words, as well as phrases, 【小题4】 (collect) in an annual assessment organized by agencies including the Ministry of Education’s National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Center and the Commercial Press publishing house.

Organizers explained that “vitalize” represents 【小题5】 upward trend and a gesture of trying to make an effort, and that’s the spirit one should have 【小题6】 the face of challenges and obstacles, 【小题7】 it’s a country or an individual. Meanwhile, it pointed out that internationally, the world’s path has come to a crossroads amid wars and conflicts, sluggish economies, a 【小题8】 (wide) gap of development and a worsening environment. Organizers called for looking for opportunities hidden in these 【小题9】 (crisis) and using dialogue and cooperation to handle differences in order to build a fair, better world.

In addition to characters, gaozhiliang fazhan, or high-quality development, was chosen 【小题10】 (be) the key domestic phrase of the year, while ChatGPT was named the annual phrase in international topics.