【推荐1】Over 40 years ago, a country music DJ convention was held every year in Nashville, Tennessee. Many country performers used to attend the convention to give their performances. Fans would go to Nashville hoping to see their favorite performers. In the end, so many fans began showing up in Nashville that a festival named Fan Fair was born.

The first Fan Fair was held in April 1972 in Nashville for four days. Some of the biggest country music stars attended. There were about fifty thousand fans. The first Fan Fair was so successful that the second one in 1973 was planned almost immediately. The date was changed to June, when the weather would be better. Over one hundred thousand fans, attended the second Fan Fair.

Every year brought so many performers and fans to Fan Fair that, in 1982, it was moved to the Tennessee State Fairgrounds. Fan Fair stayed at the Fairgrounds for another nineteen years.

There was always the unexpected during the festival. In 1974, former Beatles Paul McCartney attended. In 1992, more than six hundred reporters from Europe, Asia, and South America went to cover the appearance of a popular star, Billy Ray Cyrus, who had introduced a new country line dance. In 1996, Garth Brooks, who made a surprise appearance, signed autographs for 23 hours.

In 2001, Fan Fair returned to downtown Nashville as the world’s biggest country music festival. Nowadays, over one hundred and twenty-five thousand country music fans go to Nashville every June. As you can imagine, those who want to attend Fan Fair must plan ahead. For example, they need to buy a ticket several months ahead of time. Of course, there’s much more to prepare.

【推荐2】Almost all cultures celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another in some way. Different cultures celebrate the beginning of a new year in different ways, and at different times on the calendar.

In Western countries, people usually celebrate New Year at midnight on December 31st—January 1st. People may go to parties, sometimes dressed in formal (正式的) clothes, and they may drink champagne (香槟) at midnight. During the first minutes of the new year, people cheer and wish each other happiness for the year ahead. But some cultures prefer to celebrate the new year by waking up early to watch the sunrise. They welcome the new year with the first light of the sunrise.

Many cultures also do special things to get rid of (消除) bad luck at the beginning of a new year. For example, in Ecuador, families make a big doll from old clothes. The doll is filled with old newspapers and firecrackers. At midnight, these dolls are burned to show the bad things from the past year are gone and the new year can start afresh (重新). Other common traditions to keep away bad luck in a new year include throwing things into rivers or the ocean, or saying special things on the first day of the new year.

Other New Year traditions are followed to bring good luck in the new year. One widespread Spanish tradition for good luck is to eat grapes on New Year’s Day. The more grapes a person eats, the more good luck the person will have in the year. In France, people eat pancakes for good luck at New Year. In the United States, some people eat black-eyed peas for good luck, but to get good luck for a whole year you have to eat 365 of them!

【推荐1】Teens love to socialize, and these websites give them a chance to do that while playing games,exploring virtual (虚拟的) worlds and taking quizzes. Of course, teens also need to be safe online and report any cyber bullies (网络欺凌).

Instagram allows teens to upload photos of their daily life and share them with friends. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and that must be true because Instagram has around 300 million users who are active each month. The platform is all about photos with short captions(说明文字).

When it comes to Instagram's users, 53 percent of them are aged 18-29, but a big percentage of those may be even younger and simply list their age as 18 in order to use the platform.

Habbo Hotel is a place for teens to chat. Each teen receives a personal room to decorate with virtual objects. They can also dress their avatar (网络头像) in virtual clothes or create games to play with friends. The room might have music, be set up like a classroom, or have other features so different avatars can visit one another. Each room teens can interact in has an adult moderator (管理员) to make sure it stays safe.

Fanlala is a social network that gives tens who love celebrities, music and TV shows a place to interact. Through it, a user can get the latest news and gossip on their favorite shows, as well as take quizzes and polls to test their knowledge. Teens can set up their own profile on Fanlala and interact with other users.

Teen Chat is a place for teens to interact with one another through forums according to their interests. For example, there are chat rooms for those who love anime (动漫) and for those who've just started college. There are also chat rooms for things like music, games and sports. The platform offers a“Friend Finder'" tool that will help teens search for people who live locally to them.

【推荐2】Children’s Games in Ancient China

Unlike the children nowadays, the children during ancient times didn’t have smart phone, iPad or computer to entertain themselves.     1     Let’s take a look.

During the Qing Dynasty, kicking a stone ball around was a popular sport in the northern part of China, and it was often played in the winter to keep warm. Stones were carved into small balls and kicked along with feet.

Kites have quite a long history. The earliest kites were made of wood, instead of paper. Nowadays, the three most famous kites are the Beijing kite, Tianjin kite and Weifang kite.     2     For example, the swallow-shaped kite is a well-known Beijing style.

Playing hide-and-seek

Hide-and-seek is a traditional game for children, popular around the nation.     3     There are two ways to play. One way is covering a child's eyes while other kids run around to tease(戏弄) him. More commonly, participants hide and one child must try to find them.

    4    

The closest thing to watching a film or television for entertainment during ancient times was going to see a shadow play. Folk artists manipulate puppets behind the screen, narrating stories and accompanied by music.

Setting off firecrackers

Firecrackers have a history of more than 2,000 years.     5     And to scare off the beast, people burnt bamboo joints to make it blast. After gunpowder was invented, it gradually replaced the bamboo joint cracker. Crackers are still set off during Spring Festival to symbolize auspiciousness(吉利).

【推荐3】A white elephant gift exchange is a popular holiday party game in, the United States. Generally, the party needs at least six participants, and the larger the group is, the more entertaining the game will be.     1    But it can result in heated competitions between players trying to get the gifts.

    2    Sometimes, the rule is that the item must be previously owned, which means that you can exchange an unwanted item or trinket (小装饰品) with your friends. But sometimes you can buy a new but inexpensive item just for the party.

Every participant is expected to bring one wrapped (包装好的) gift. A white elephant gift is usually something useless or inconvenient.    3    Guests are asked to wrap them nicely and leave no identifying markings on the presents.

To start the game, a participant must act as the first player to choose a gift; this can be decided randomly or by picking numbers out of a hat.     4    As for the next player? This person can either “steal” the first person’s gift or choose an unwrapped item from the pile. Each gift can be stolen only three times before it is considered “dead”.

    5     Any person that has to give up a gift can also pick a new gift or steal one from another person. Each turn is only allowed three swaps between the current player and the previous players. The game won’t finish until all the presents are opened.