The traditional Chinese calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms (节气). Minor Snow (小雪) , the 20th solar term of the year, begins this year ________ Nov.22 and ends on Dec.6. Here are things you should know about Minor Snow. 

Light snow. ________ ancient Chinese book about plants explains that in Minor Snow, it is cold and it is going to snow, but the earth is not frozen enough and the snow is light. The temperature in most ________ in the north drops to 0℃ and below. The snow is light and frozen at night, but melts (融化) ________ during the day.

Having soup. During Minor Snow, people may also feel hot inside their body. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, if people feel hot inside their body, it can cause problems. To solve the problems , people should have ________ hot soup, such as cabbage and tofu soup, and mutton and vegetable soup. 

Making pickled vegetables (腌菜). For ________ of years, the people of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province ________ Minor Snow with pickled vegetables made in different ways. Nanjing is known for ________ pickled vegetables. In the past, vegetables sold in Nanjing were few and expensive, _________ people there made pickled vegetables for the winter. 

Avoiding hot food. On cold days, people may want some hot food ________ warm. Experts say it’s not wise to eat too much hot food, because it will increase the heat inside your body.

2 . One afternoon, my son Adam asked me, “Are all people the same even though they are different in color?”

It was a serious question. I thought for a while and then said, “I’ll explain it ________ you sooner. Let’s go to a fruit shop. I ________ you something interesting.”

At a fruit shop, we bought some ________ in different colors—red, green and yellow. After we got home, I told Adam, “It’s time ________ your question now.” I put one apple of each color on the table. Adam watched carefully. He had a curious (好奇的) look on ________ face.

“People are like apples. They have different colors, shapes and sizes. On the outside, some of the apples may not even look as ________ as the others.” While I ________, Adam was checking each one carefully. Then, I took all the apples, peeled them and then ________ them back on the table, but in different places.

“Okay, Adam, can you distinguish (区分) them?” He said, “I can’t tell. They all look the same now.”

But soon I saw a huge smile coming across his face. “People are just like apples! ________ they are all different, once you take off the outside, they are pretty much ________ same inside.” He totally understood it. I didn’t need to say or do anything else.

3 . As we all know, children’s health has been given special attention to. Each school _________ its best to help children to keep fit. Children exercise for at least one hour _________ day at school. They can take an active part in different sports activities. The school life is becoming more colorful.

There are many ways for children to stay healthy. First, they should keep _________ every day. They can go to school on foot instead of _________ bus. As we all know: doing sports _________ help them to be strong and energetic. Jogging (慢跑) is a good way to relax. Liu Yu is a 15-year-old boy. He started jogging with his father when he was 5 years old. He says, “Jogging _________ me stronger.”

Second, children should remember that a good eating habit is very important. They should have three meals a day. They’d better not eat junk food _________ healthy food. Third, children should go to bed early to have enough sleep. Usually, they need at least eight _________ sleep every night. If they have trouble falling asleep, listening to _________ relaxing is of great help. It’s much __________ for them to fall asleep with soft music.

In a word, a healthy body can help children study better and live happier lives.

5 . Xiaomi Su 7 electric car ______ tons of attention since its presentation (发布会) was held ______ the evening of March 28th, 2024. More and more people are crazy about Xiaomi products, such as, Mi phone, Mi TV, Mi band and so on.

The man behind this craze is Lei Jun, the founder and CEO of Xiaomi Company. Lei was born in Xiantao, Hubei in 1969. He entered Wuhan University ______ computer science at the age of 18. When studying in the university, he showed a great ______ in computer programming and electric products. He used to think he would be a programmer for a lifetime. But a book called Fire in the valley, which tells the story of the founder of Apple Company, Steve Jobs, changed his life. Encouraged by the book, 21-year-old Lei set up his first company with his friends. But it soon failed ______ he lacked a long-term plan.

After graduation, Lei became ______ programmer of Kingsoft Company. In 16 years, he became one of ______ IT company leaders. But that's not the only thing he wanted. Then he left Kingsoft and started ______ own company. In 2010, the smartphone company Xiaomi Technology ______. Now there are more than 14 million Mi phone users. “Never give up your dream. Life is long, always believe ______ something wonderful is about to happen.” said Lei.

It was a beautiful spring day in a forest in ancient China. High up in a tree, a mother bird was watching ________ six baby birds come out of the eggs lovingly. Five of them were strong. They chirped loudly. But ________ last one that came out was not strong at all. This little one ________ Little Six. He was weak and quiet. He was not fast enough to get the worms (虫子) Mama Bird brought back. Little Six ate little food, so he was always hungry. And he didn’t like that.

Little Six didn’t have a strong body, ________ he had a strong will. He decided ________ he would get stronger. He would do exercise and flap (拍动) his wings every day.

Every morning, Little Six would rise before the sun even came up. When his brothers and sisters woke, Little Six had already finished all his exercise. Morning after morning, he practiced ________ his wings, and they were getting stronger and stronger. He always got the first worms Mama brought back home.

All through the spring, Little Six woke up ________ than his brothers and sisters. Week after week, he worked harder than they did. He could eat big meals and did not go hungry any more.

After a couple of months, all the baby birds had grown well. Mama Bird brought them together and ________ them to fly. ________ everyone’s surprise, Little Six was the first to start flying!

“Chirp! Chirp! Look at me!” Little Six cried ________ while his brothers and sisters still fought hard, trying to fly up.

7 . Once upon a time, there was a man called Zhang San. He worked very ________ until one day he finally saved 300 taels of silver (银两). He was very happy about it. But he worried that someone might ________ it from him. So he decided to find a safe place. He thought, “To carry it along with ________? Too heavy. To put it in the drawer at home? Thieves might break in.” Finally he had a “good” idea. At midnight, Zhang San ________ a hole in the corner of his backyard, and buried (埋葬) all his money in it. However, he still worried that somebody would come and steal it. Then he had a “________” idea. He put a sign near the place saying “No 300 taels of silver buried here.” Then he left in peace.

Unluckily, his next door ________, Wang Er, saw the whole thing. _______ Zhang fell asleep, Wang came out. By the moonlight, he saw ________ big sign Zhang San put. He knew what it meant. So he stole all the money. But before he went away, he was filled ________ fear. “What if Zhang San finds his money gone?” Wang Er thought. “What if he suspects (怀疑) me?” Then he had the “best” idea. He left a sign, ________. And it said, “Your neighbor Wang Er did not steal it.”

9 . The sweetest memory of my childhood is about ______ round table. When I was little, my family would get together ______ dinner on different festivals. We kids would be playing games around the table while the adults ______.

When I got a bit older, my aunt brought back her boyfriend and my grandpa cheerfully added another ______ to the round table. It seemed a little more crowded, but we felt much ______ to each other. When I was twelve, my grandpa passed away (去世). That made us ______ sad. However, when the whole family got together once again, we totally agreed ______ his chair, his bowl and chopsticks should still be there. Even though his seat was empty, we felt as if he had never left us.

We all have a table like this in ______ homes. It is a sign of reunion (团聚) of our family. Usually, different cultures ______ by us around the table. We express the love not only for our family, but also for a community, our nation and even the whole world.

The history of our nation has been the stories of looking for or running to the round table which we belong ______. The round table has been a symbol of the Chinese feelings. It was, it is and will always be.