The Amber Room was 【小题1】 gift that Frederick William Ⅰ, the King of Prussia, gave to Peter the Great. 【小题2】 return, the Czar sent him a troop of his best soldiers. The Amber Room which 【小题3】 (take) the country’s best 【小题4】 (artist) about ten years to make was a treasure 【小题5】 (decorate) with gold and jewels.

So it served as a small reception hall for 【小题6】 (importance) visitors. 【小题7】 (late) it was moved to a palace outside St. Petersburg 【小题8】 Catherine Ⅱ told her artists to add more details to it. 

It was completed in 1770 and was considered one of the wonders of the world. But after September 1941, when the two countries were 【小题9】 war, it was 【小题10】(miss). What happened to the Amber Room remains a mystery.

The Silk Road is in fact a relatively recent term. These ancient roads had no particular name until in the mid-19th century, a European【小题1】(name) the trade and communication network the Silk Road. Since then the term【小题2】(accept) globally.

In the nineteenth century, a new type of travellers stepped onto the Silk Road, who were eager【小题3】(look) for adventure. Researchers who came from many countries travelled through the Taklamakan Desert,【小题4】is now in Xinjiang, to explore ancient sites along the Silk Road,【小题5】(lead) to many discoveries and studies, and most of all, a renewed interest【小题6】the history of these routes.

Today, many historic 【小题7】(building) and monuments still stand, marking the passage of the Silk Road through hotels, ports and cities. What's more, the remarkable network is reflected in【小题8】large number of cultures, languages, customs and religions that have developed for many years along these routes. The passage of merchants and travellers of many【小题9】 (difference) nationalities resulted not only in commercial exchange, but in a widespread and continual process of cultural interaction.【小题10】( obvious) , it has become a driving force in the formation (形成) of diverse societies.

Poetry (诗歌), 【小题1】 common form of literature, plays an important role in ancient China. At that time, there were no TVs or films, and 【小题2】 (write) had not been invented, so people would sit around the fire at night and sing songs. Since nothing was set down, different versions of these songs 【小题3】 (create), and each area would have its own rhythm (韵律). As these songs were often quite long, they often had rhyme and rhythm 【小题4】 (help) people remember them more easily. While in the 【小题5】 (begin) such songs had a very simple format, over time they became more difficult and 【小题6】 (pretty). These were no longer the works of amateurs (业余爱好者) sitting around a fire, 【小题7】 works of true poets who cared about their art and who sometimes made a living from it.

Poetry plays with sounds, words, and grammar, 【小题8】 makes poetry difficult to write but very interesting to read. In fact, the tradition of writing and reading poems 【小题9】 (pass) down over the generations. 【小题10】 is amazing that now even more people are trying to write poems by themselves!