Maple syrup (枫糖浆) is made from the rising spring sap (树液) of    1     number of varieties of maple tree native to the US and Canada. The syrup     2     (reduce) by boiling in open pans, and was     3     (wide) used by Native Americans long before the arrival of Europeans.

The     4     (finish) syrup is about 66 per cent sucrose(蔗糖), and has a honey-like flavour. Because the process.of collecting     5     boiling down the sap to make maple syrup     6     (require) a lot of manpower and time, it’s quite expensive. There are many products available offering a similar taste and experience for less.

Any product labelled “maple syrup” must be pure maple syrup. While Canada and the US have slightly different grading     7     (way), the colour of the syrup is     8     (you)guide. Lightness or darkness of colour indicates the lightness or darkness of flavour, in turn reflecting how maple syrup changes according to the time of collection.

Maple-flavoured syrups, sometimes sold as “breakfast” or “pancake” syrups, will be cheaper, but these are made up of a sugar syrup     9     has been artificially flavoured and coloured.

There are other products made from maple syrup, including maple sugar. This can be used in baking without     10     (affect) liquid balances, and is excellent when put on fruits such as strawberries, pears, apples, plums and peaches before lightly baking.

There is no question that afternoon tea is popular in Britain. And it has     1     (certain) changed a lot over the last two hundred years. These days afternoon tea     2     (enjoy) by many, but most of all it’s a way for chefs (厨师) to express their creativity and add some new     3     (change) to the British tradition.

The custom of afternoon tea     4     (begin) with Anna Maria, the 7th Duchess of Bedford around 1840. At the time,     5     was usual for people to take only two main meals a day: breakfast and dinner (around 8 pm) and Maria is said to have complained (抱怨) of     6     (get) hungry during the late afternoon. So, the solution for the Duchess was a pot of tea and a light snack taken privately in her bedroom during the afternoon. She then started to invite friends     7     (join) her in her rooms at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire and the tradition became popular within fashionable society.

Basic afternoon tea includes finger sandwiches, scones (司康饼) and cakes on a plate, all washed down by a pot of tea set in either a lovely garden     8     a good hotel. But nowadays, it has become     9     artistic experience.

“In recent years, we have seen chefs getting more adventurous with their afternoon tea menus. Most still stick to the     10     (tradition) afternoon tea of sandwiches, scones and cakes but let their cooking skills go to town with delicious new sandwich fillings and flavoured (有添加味道的) breads,” said Afternoon Tea. co.uk managing director Keith Newton.

Visitors who travel to jiayu county, Xianning city, in Central China’s Hubei province for the first time are often impressed with its food offerings, especially the fish and lotus roots (莲藕). Almost every restaurant offers dishes     1     (feature) these ingredients (原料).

Xiao Wo, a poet from Beijing, once remarked on how amazing it is that some restaurants can make an entire table of dishes     2     either ingredient.

Located in the south of Hubei,     3     (know) as a province of a thousand lakes, Jiayu covers an area of 1,017 square kilometers, and about one-third of that     4     (cover) in water. It is home to 15 types of fish and produces 60, 000 tons of lotus roots a year.

Jiayu,     5     literally means “good fish” in Chinese, is one of two counties named after the water creatures.     6     other is Yutai in Shandong province.

Jiayu     7     (get) its name from the following lines of the poem The South Produces Good Fish from The Book of Songs, the     8     (old) existing collection of Chinese poetry, dating back to between the 11th and 6th century BC.

“The south produces good fish, and the fish swim and wag their tails. There is fine wine at the     9     (gentlemen) large impressive meals, and guests feast and drink     10     (merry).”

Aside from its delicious dishes, Jiayu is also famous for its lotus roots, wudu (a clay instrument) and culture of the Three Kingdoms (220-280) period.