The use of chopsticks has been     1     big part of Chinese food culture for centuries. When cooking food or picking it up, a pair of chopsticks always comes for use.

So how did chopsticks come into being? It’s said that Dayu, a legendary ruler of ancient China    2     helped his people fight floods, invented them. In those days, people    3     (eat) only with their hands. But Dayu was busy preparing for flood control work and often had his meals in the wild. Mostly, he hurried to deal    4     unexpected accidents and didn’t want to wait to eat. The meat    5     (cook) in the pot was too hot to pick up with his hands. So one day Dayu picked up some twigs(细枝)     6     (help) him hold the meat. Later, the twigs    7     (gradual) became the chopsticks we know today.

But of course, this is just a story. The    8     (early) chopsticks archaeologists(考古学家) have found so far are more than 3,000 years,     9     (date) back to the Shang Dynasty. The six bronze chopsticks were found in Yinxu, one of China’s oldest archaeological    10     (site) in Anyang, Henan Province.

A Bite of China

No trip would be complete without experiencing the local food culture.    1    (actual), China has various kinds of delicious food, including a wide variety of local snacks.

For most of the foreigners I have contacted, and myself    2     (include), Peking duck and Mongolian hotpot are the favourite Chinese dishes. China is a place    3     the food is not only delicious,but the    4    (cheap).

    5     my last night in Beijing before    6     (return) to the United States,I went to a Peking duck restaurant that had been suggested to me to try. What a beautiful place,with splendid woodblock prints on the walls, fresh flowers in the vases, and    7    (attract)silverware (银餐具) and beautiful chopsticks. I was handed     8     menu and found most of the prices were especially low for the high quality of the food.

Anyway,I ordered a whole duck,thinking I’d just take the rest back to my hotel    9    (eat) later if I couldn’t finish it. Unbelievably, none of the whole duck    10    (leave) on the plate in the end.

As you can see, many Chinese families drink tea after dinner or serve tea when     1     (greet) visitors. This is not only a healthy habit but also shows rich culture and history. Chinese people can chat with a friend for a whole afternoon over a pot of good tea. In China, tea can be commonly seen as     2     sign of respect to the older generation. In the Chinese traditional wedding ceremony,     3     ( express) their gratitude (感谢)，both the bride and bridegroom kneel in front of their parents and serve them tea. People also make a serious     4     (apologize) to others by presenting tea. These various tea     5     (custom) make up the rich Chinese tea culture.

As for     6     (it) history, tea, originating from China, is consumed around the world now. About 2,000 years ago, tea     7     (introduce ) in Chinese texts as a healthy drink that made people live longer. Additionally, both green and black tea are said to be useful to prevent cancer, heart disease, and many other deadly diseases. The only thing     8     people should be aware of is that tea should not be drunk along     9     meals.

Today, tea is gaining popularity around the world. In Japan, a tea ceremony is often held while people are drinking tea together. The ceremony, usually     10     (host) in a teahouse, dates from the 16th century.

Some misunderstanding is putting shark populations at risk now. Thousands of sharks are dying as    1     result of people’s false beliefs.

Female sharks need males to make babies. Some female sharks have the ability     2    (produce) a baby by themselves and have young sharks without a male shark. That’s something commonly     3    (see) in plants and insects like ants and bees.

Shark fins have medical function.     4    (tradition), it     5     ( believe) that shark fin soup has health benefits and is quite special in China.     6     modern scientists point out that shark tissue(组织) can be extremely high in poison. What’s more, shark fishing kills up to 100 million animals each year, endangering several different species.

If you’re bitten by a shark, you will be a goner. You are more than twice as likely to die from a lightning strike as from a shark bite, according     7     the Florida Museum’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF). “Even if you are bitten, the large     8    (major) of people survive”, says Dr. Chapman. In fact, there were sixty-six unprovoked(无端的) shark bite    9    ( incident) around the world in 2018, only six of    10     were dangerous.

You wrote that you are very worried     1     your friend. I understand quite     2    (good) that you are anxious and feel terrible. You think that your friend     3    (play) computer games too often and spends too much time online.

I recommend that you talk to your friend about his     4    (behave). It is not unusual for teenagers of your generation     5    (attract) by computer games and the online world.     6    (spend) too much time online is unhealthy and makes     7     very difficult to focus on other things in life. Some students even become     8    (addict) to the Internet and cannot concentrate on school and family life. I think you should encourage your friend to try new     9    (hobby). Why not discuss the problem together? I am sure he will listen to you, since you are     10    (he) good friend.

Yours,

Susan Luo