Nowadays, the word “hutong ” has come to mean more 【小题1】 just the alleys that connect the courtyards. It also refers to the courtyards 【小题2】 (they) and even to the communities that live there.

To help them keep control over the city, the Emperors during these Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasty【小题3】(arrange) different areas of Beijing in neat blocks of houses established around courtyards. They were then able to place guards at the 【小题4】(enter) of the various hutongs, which made it easier 【小题5】(keep) an eye on people’s movements.   

By connecting people’s homes, the hutongs in fact connected people’s lives, 【小题6】 the lives of the rich or the lives of the ordinary citizens.

Towards the end of the Qing Dynasty, the conditions in Beijing’s hutongs went down as the political situation cast a dark cloud on China’s economy. Many new hutongs were quickly built to house the 【小题7】(increase) population but these new hutongs【小题8】(make) poorly.     

Hutongs are still 【小题9】 important part of Beijing’s life and it is not surprising that tourists love the hutongs. They can walk up Sanmiao Street, 【小题10】(date) back 900 years.

Do you remember the Greek legend in which Daedalus, 【小题1】 (inspire) by birds, built wings for his son Icarus and himself so they could escape from the tyrant (暴君) Minos? Then you   【小题2】 (sure) remember that this journey did not go so well. The wax (蜡) on the wings melted when Icarus flew too near 【小题3】 sun and he crashed. What is 【小题4】 (interest) about this story is that Daedalus’ inspiration was Mother Nature, 【小题5】 leads us to the topic of bionics. Nature has been and is a role model for many inventions and achievements, 【小题6】 instance in packaging, technology and architecture.

Take the Sydney Opera House as an example. Nature was the inspiration for the shape, as well as for the body and building structure. The large size of the roof construction was a real challenge for which architect Jørn Utzon drew inspiration from palm fronds (棕榈叶) and the roof was not modeled after sails, as popularly 【小题7】 (assume), but rather after orange peel.

Another example is the Multihalle in the Herzogenried Park. It 【小题8】 (call) “the Mannheim marvel” because it is the 【小题9】 (large) self-supporting structure in Europe. It can accommodate 2,600 【小题10】 (visitor) on 10,000 square meters without a single support column. This tent-roof has been made possible by a unique lattice (格子框架) shell construction. Its designer Frei Otto took his inspiration from spider-web structures.

In some parts of northern China, “dikengyuan” in Mandarin, which means “ground hole courtyards,” is a type of cave dwellings (“yaodong”) commonly 【小题1】 (find) in the Loess Plateau in northern China. Academic literature mentions they came into 【小题2】 (exist) about 7,000 years ago.

The soil of the Loess Plateau, 【小题3】 these cave dwellings are built, is an effective substance that can keep people warm during the winter. More 【小题4】 (important), the yellow earth of the Loess is not only soft and easy 【小题5】 (dig) into, but also strong enough that it can hold together even without support.

While the size of the courtyard 【小题6】 (vary), the cave dwellings can go up to 12 meters long. After a ground hole is dug for the courtyard, the rooms 【小题7】 (carve) out from the four walls of the sunken courtyard.

Some scholars outside China consider the dwellings to be a natural adaptation to the climatic patterns in that region, with 【小题8】 (freeze) and long winters, and extremely burning summer heat.

While these houses have been around for thousands of years, 【小题9】 government only listed them as part of China’s intangible cultural heritage in 2011.

Many of these ancient homes, especially in the Shanzhou district of Sanmenxia City in China’s Henan province, have been restored and turned 【小题10】 tourist attractions.