【推荐3】Christmas is a very important festival in the west. However, different countries celebrate Christmas in different ways.   

In England

Christmas is celebrated on December 25th. Christmas dinner is usually a roast turkey with Christmas pudding for dessert. Christmas decorations must be taken down on the twelfth day after Christmas otherwise it brings bad luck for the rest of the year.   

In Australia

In Australia, it never snows at Christmas because Christmas is in the summer holiday. A traditional Christmas dinner is often held in the backyard for BBQ’s, picnics in the garden or even on the beach. People call the Christmas season the “silly season”. Christmas is a deeply religious festival. The Christmas season officially begins on December 8th. Christmas Eve is known as the “Good Night”.   

In Germany

In Germany, people hold special markets every December that specialize in selling decorations and other Christmas related goods. People make and drink a special wine, which is called “mulled wine”. Christmas goose is also needed by many people. Families gather together on Christmas Eve to open their presents.   

In Russia

Russian Christmas is very interesting because they celebrate Christmas twice and Christmas on December 25th is not for many Russians with religious beliefs. They celebrate Christmas on January 7th to commemorate (纪念) the birthday of Jesus. However, even more influential is still on December 25th when the streets and main venues of Christmas decorations are colorful. Christmas goose is traditionally eaten by people on Christmas Eve.

【推荐2】Chinese people are, quite rightly, proud of their food. However, when foreigners like Britons and Americans think of Chinese food, their impression of it is different to what you might think.

Growing up in the UK, the Chinese food I was used to eating was food I now recognize as being from Guangdong. For example, a typical dish I would order would be pork in sweet and sour sauce, probably with some rice and spring rolls on the side. This is the type of food we generally eat because most Chinese immigrants(移民) to the UK have come from Guangdong. You can tell, because when most British people try to copy the sound of Chinese, they actually copy the sound of Guangdong people—hearing the real Putonghua is sometimes a shock to British people who have grown up thinking it sounds completely different!

British attitudes to Chinese food may be changing, though. Chinese-American chef Ken Hom has been on British TV for 30 years, and he told BBC Food: “Chinese food at the beginning of the 80s (in the UK) was sweet and sour pork, mainly. Most Brits had the unchangeable view of Chinese food. Now you are seeing more local Chinese food from Sichuan, Hunan and other areas of China. It is no longer just Guangdong food.” Similarly, to most Americans, Chinese food doesn’t go too far past orange chicken and fortune cookies, but more Chinese local dishes are becoming successful, especially in big cities like New York.

Attitudes have not quite changed completely, though. Many foreigners who live in China will be familiar with this question from a relative back at home: “Have they given you dog yet?” Yes, perhaps because people still know too little about Chinese culture, many people believe that Chinese people love to eat dog meat. And of course, some people do eat dogs, which to Americans is like “eating a member of one’s family” according to Vision Times. Also, Chinese people eat many other things people in the West do not—chicken claws, duck heads and some animals’ organs.

But what do foreigners think when they come to China and taste real Chinese food? You’ll be glad to know that in my experience, the impressions have been very good.

【推荐1】Across the rich world, well-educated people increasingly work longer than the less-skilled. Some 65% of American men aged 62 - 74 with a professional degree are in the workforce, compared with 32% of men with only a high-school certificate. This gap is part of a deepening divide between the well-educated well-off and the unskilled poor. Rapid technological advance has raised the incomes of the highly skilled while squeezing those of the unskilled. The consequences, for individuals and society, are profound (深刻的).

The world is facing an astonishing rise in the number of old people, and they will live longer than ever before. Over the next 20 years the global population of those aged 65 or more will almost double, from 600 million to 1.1 billion. The experience of the 20th century, when greater longevity translated into more years in retirement rather than more years at work, has persuaded many observers that this shift will lead to slower economic growth, while the swelling (扩大的) ranks of pensioners (领养老金者) will create government budget problems.

But the notion of a sharp division between the working young and the idle (不工作的) old misses a new trend, the growing gap between the skilled and the unskilled. Employment rates are falling among younger unskilled people, whereas older skilled folk are working longer. The divide is most extreme in America, where well-educated baby-boomers are putting off retirement while many less-skilled younger people have dropped out of the workforce.

Policy is partly responsible. Many European governments have abandoned policies that used to encourage people to retire early. Even the better-off must work longer to have a comfortable retirement. But the changing nature of work also plays a big role. Pay has risen sharply for the highly educated. Technological change may well reinforce (加强) that shift: the skills that complement (补充) computers, from management to creativity, do not necessarily decline with age.

【推荐2】Writing Contests

A nine-month fellowship of the Study of the American Experience at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, is given annually to the winner working on an essay that addresses the history or legacy of the American Revolution and the nation’s founding ideas. He will get a scholarship of $45,000. Submit an essay sample (样本) of any length by November 1, 2018. FIL Prize, C. V. Starr Center, Custom House, 101 South Water Street, Chester-town. (740) 765-3442.

A prize of $1,500 and publication is given annually for a poetry collection. The famous poet Rosanna Warren will judge. Using the online submission system, you submit a manuscript (手稿) of 50 to 80 pages with a $25 entry fee. University of North Texas Press, 1155 Union Circle #311336, Denton, TX76203. (940) 565-2142.

Four prizes of $15,000 each are given annually to U.S. writers for books of fiction, general nonfiction, and biography or autobiography published in the United States during the current year. For books published between January1 and June14, submit four copies of the book, an author biography and photograph, and a $50 entry fee by June 15. The deadline for books published during the second half of the year is October 1.

The total prize money is $30,000 and half of it is given annually to the winner. Other three participants in the top four will each receive $5.000.The winner and other finalists will also be invited to read at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Writer Andrea Barrett and Alex Espinoza will judge. All pieces of works taking part in competition must be books of fiction published during the current year. Submit four copies of a short story collection, and the novel will be published in 2018 by October31.

Faulkner Foundation, 201 East Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C.20003. (202) 898-9063.