The Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, is the most important holiday in China. It is a time for family reunion, celebrating the arrival of spring, and observing customs and traditions.

The new year festivities begin with a complete cleaning of the house to sweep away any ill fortune and make way for good luck. Then people put up Chinese decorations, such as couplets and the character “福”. It is often hung upside down as a play on words, as it sounds like the word for ”arrive” in Chinese. The color red is everywhere during the festival as it shows vigor(活力) and happiness. People wear red clothes, paste up red pictures, and hang lanterns.

The most prominent (显著的) feature of the Spring Festival is the reunion dinner. Family members may live in different cities throughout the year, but they manage to return home and celebrate together. They gather to enjoy reunion dinners with dishes like dumplings symbolizing wealth and fish, fried meat balls, etc. Every dish has its meaning like peace, good luck, good health…

Just before midnight, everyone goes outside and millions of fireworks go off together. The sky suddenly becomes bright and everybody cheers.

Visiting and receiving guests is an important part of Spring Festival celebrations. They greet each other and wish a healthy family and good luck in the coming year. Children get red envelopes with money symbolizing good luck.

These traditions and customs come together to make Chinese Spring Festival a heartwarming holiday of family, community-a lucky beginning to the new year.

Communication, like any other skills, is one you can improve upon with practice. Here are a few ways to start improving your communication skills.

Consider (考虑) your audience. Who are you communicating with? Knowing your audience can be key to delivering the right messages effectively (有效地). Their age, race, income, education level, subject knowledge, and professional experience can all influence how they’ll receive your message.

If you’re advertising a fast food restaurant, for example, you might want to deliver your message to an audience that’s likely to be hungry. This could be a billboard on the side of a busy highway that shows a huge cheeseburger and informs drivers that the closest location is just two miles away.

Practise active listening. Active listening is the practice of giving your full attention in a communication exchange (交换). Some techniques include communication, be sure to consider your audience and practise active listening to get to the heart of their needs and desires.

Make your message as clear as possible. Once you have successfully identified (确定) your audience and listened to their intentions, needs and desires, you may have something to communicate. To do this effectively, try to make sure that your message is: clear, correct, complete, agreeable. Prepare to communicate in a way that achieves most of the above.

Use the right medium or platform (平台). Using the right medium or platform to communicate matters. Effective communication requires you to consider whether you need to meet in person. Is your message casual (非正式的) enough to use WhatsApp, or would a formal email be more efficient and thorough? If you are catching up with a friend, do you two prefer to talk on the phone or by old-fashioned letters? Whatever you choose should be appropriate (适合的) for you and your current situation.

By considering your audience, practicing active listening, making your communication clear, and choosing the right medium or platform, you are well on your way to exercising communication effectiveness.

3 .

It was a hot summer day when my family and I decided to take a trip to the beach. My dad just came back from his work in Africa. And mom finished volunteering in the south. We were all excited to spend the day swimming and playing in the sand together. As soon as we arrived, we quickly set up our towels and beach chairs and rushed into the water.

As the day went on, the waves started to get bigger and stronger. I was having a great time playing in the water until I suddenly found myself caught in a rip current. I tried to swim back to shore, but the current was too strong and kept pulling me further out.

I started to be scared and scream for help, but no one seemed to notice. I was getting more and more tired, and my arms and legs were starting to cramp up (抽筋). Just when I thought I was going to drown, a lifeguard appeared out of nowhere and pulled me to safety.

This experience taught me a valuable lesson about the power of the ocean and the importance of water safety. I realized that I didn’t pay attention to the warning signs. From that day on, I made sure to always know my surroundings when swimming in the ocean and to follow all safety guidelines.

Overall, this was a difficult and scary experience. I will never forget the feeling of being trapped (困) by the current and the relief of being rescued (获救) by the lifeguard.

It was a sunny day in the summer of 2018 when I decided to take a trip alone to a nearby national park. As I was hiking trails, I came across a group of tourists. They were lost and hurriedly trying to find their way back to the _______ center.

I offering to _______ and led them back to the visitor center. They thanked me and invited me to join them for a picnic lunch. As we were eating, I learned that they were from _______ countries: England, America, Australia, France, Japan…and had come here for a study abroad program.

Jane, one of the tourists, told me she was an American. Her Chinese penfriend, Da Ming _______ her to his family. She was very happy with this invitation. When she went to his family, Da Ming’s mother prepared delicious food to entertain her. She gave Jane so much food that she couldn’t take another bite. And they also drove Jane around the city. Jane left Da Ming’s family _______ and she told me that she began to love food, people here and our country.

We spent the afternoon _______ stories and experiences, and I was surprised at the difference of their backgrounds and the similarities of their desires. It made me realize how important it is to step out and _______ different cultures.

As the day came to an end, I said goodbye to my new friends and headed back home. But the memory of that day stayed with me, reminding me of the value of kindness and the power of human connection. The experience _______ me to always be open to new experiences and to never underestimate (低估) the influence we can have on others, even in small ways.

Have you ever seen shadow plays? The shadow play is one of the oldest puppet performances in China. It was a popular folk drama in ancient China and also the ancestor (祖先) of the films in the world.

Shadow plays were once a popular form of entertainment, and they were also used for religious (宗教) and instructional purposes. Simple to perform, dramas were played out on screens or walls for thousands of years, and the shadow play is still performed in China today.

A simple lamp and a thin screen were all that were needed for a stage. Things like people, animals, furniture, walls and plants were shown on the screen by placing figurines or figures made of cardboard or leather in front of the lamp.

The lamp lighted the screen from behind, and people could move little figurines around for theatrical performances. With added music and sound effects, the plays could be quite entertaining if they were well performed. These were ancient dramas or cartoons, and they were even colorized for added entertainment by using colored translucent (半透明的) figurines. The lamp light cast a colored shadow.

One can imagine that stone-age people sat next to campfires and watched stories played out on rock walls by shadows cast by using their hands or figurines.

It is said that the Mongols in the 13th century liked to watch shadow plays in their camps. They took the entertainment with them, and it became a popular entertainment in the Yuan Empire of the 13th century.

Shadow plays were performed in France when French missionaries (传教士) returned from China in 1767 and put on performances in Paris and Marseilles. It is said that this is how the shadow play was introduced to Europe. The plays were popular in France, and they were called “Chinese Shadows” at first.

Nowadays, performers use plastics, computer controlled lightning and machinery, and modern paint and dyes to produce bright and colorful shadow figures. They can produce images that are controlled by computers, and these can be used for animation and entertainment effects in plays. It is difficult for shadow puppeteers to compete with modern entertainment technologies for an audience, but some of them are using modern materials and adopting technology to help stage interesting entertainment in China.

A café in Toronto refuses to offer Wi-Fi to its customers. Its president, Jimson Biensenstock, explains his purpose is to get customers to talk with one another instead of being buried in their portable devices.

What a brilliant idea! Perhaps Mr. Biensenstock knows what medical science has been increasingly proving: Social interaction is an extremely important contributor to good health and long life.

In a study begun in 1965, the researchers found that people who were disconnected from others were about three times more likely to die during the nine-year study than people with strong social ties. In fact, they found that those with close social ties and unhealthful lifestyles actually lived longer than those with poor social ties but more healthful living habits.

Another study in 1988 showed people who are continually lacking in social contacts are more likely to experience higher levels of stress and inflammation (炎症). These, in turn, can weaken the health of nearly every bodily system, including the brain. Absent social interactions, blood flowing to important organs (重要器官) is likely to be reduced and immune function (免疫功能) may be destroyed. Even how genes are expressed can be affected, damaging the body’s ability to turn off inflammation.

In a 2010 report, sociology researchers at the University of Texas reported similar findings. The Texas researchers also pointed out that social interactions can boost good health through a positive influence on people’s living habits. For example, if none of your friends smoke, you’ll be less likely to smoke.

Lack of social interactions also damages mental health. The emotional support provided by social connection helps to reduce the damaging effects of stress and can help develop “a sense of meaning and purpose in life”, the Texas researchers wrote.

Emma Seppala of the Stanford Center wrote, “People who feel more connected to others have lower levels of anxiety and depression. Moreover, studies show they also have higher self-esteem (自尊), greater empathy for others, are more trusting and cooperative and, as a result, others are more open to trusting and cooperating with them.”

“In other words,” Dr. Seppala explained, “social connection leads to a positive feedback circle of social, emotional and physical well-being.”

For those seeking a health-improving lifestyle, it’s not enough to focus on eating your vegetables and getting regular exercise. Don’t forget to connect.

9 . Laughter is a social emotion, so we’re 30 times more likely to laugh if there is somebody else with us than if we’re on our own.

We laugh to show that we agree with what someone says; that we remember the same thing that we’re talking about. People will also use laughter to try and mask other emotions. People will laugh to try and pretend they’re not upset, or embarrassed or in pain. People will use laughter to get other people to do things. If you get someone laughing, they will tell you more about themselves.

Laughter can sometimes feel contagious (有感染力的). You can probably think of occasions when you’ve been watching television or listening to the radio, maybe it’s been broadcast live, and the presenter or presenters start to get the giggles (咯咯的笑). If you chuckle, the contagion is working. And it’s called behaviourally contagious phenomena (现象), which are things you can catch from somebody else just because they’re doing them. You might have noticed this happens with yawning, it happens a lot with laughter.

As you know, there are lots of health benefits from laughing. You are more relaxed when you laugh. So as soon as you start laughing, you get a reduction in adrenaline (肾上腺素). You also get an increased uptake of the body’s naturally circulating endorphin (内啡肽). Now, that is because you do quite a lot of exercise at your ribcage (胸腔) when you laugh. It’s exactly the same as a runner’s high or the good feeling you get after exercising. And interestingly, that’s true of laughter even if you’ve completely pretended to laugh.

Unluckily, laughter can also have a darker side. When we laugh ha-ha-ha, breathing out, we do squeezes with ribcage. These big squeezes, particularly if you’re laughing really hard, are quite stressful for your heart and your lungs and that can mean if you have some sort of problem with your heart or your lungs or your blood vessels, you can put them under more strain. And throughout history, there are examples of people who have died of laughing.

So if you want to get your endorphin going, you can start by laughing out loud.

10 . Scenic Spots in Pinggu