【推荐1】We spoke to three students from around the world about different national holidays. There are different customs for each festival.

Tan Xiaodong, 15, Hong Kong, China

“It’ll soon be the Chinese New Year. Before it, we’ll clean the house and decorate (装饰) it for good luck. Every shop is going to close for a few days and we’ll go out a lot to celebrate on the streets. We might go and see the lion and dragon dances in the city center. I love this festival.”

Wendy, 16, Sydney, Australia

“Australia Day is on 26th January and it’s an important holiday here. We always have a Monday off, so we celebrate for three days. My parents and I go to the countryside for a picnic and friends always come over. Many people go to beach parties or street parties and there’s lots of music and dancing. What fun!”

Amy, 14, New York, the USA

“The first Thanksgiving was celebrated hundreds of years ago when Europeans who came to America thanked God for his help. It’s still a very important day for family members to be together. This year we’re going to visit my grandparents and we’ll eat a delicious meal of turkey. Thanksgiving Day is on the fourth Thursday in November every year.”

【推荐2】Like many other holidays, Halloween has developed and changed throughout history. Over 2,000 years ago people called the Celts lived in what is now Ireland, the UK, and parts of Northern France.     1     They believed that the night before the New Year (October 31) was a time when the living and the dead came together.

More than a thousand years ago the Christian church named November 1 All Saints Day (also called All Hallows). This was a special day to honor the saints (圣人) and other people who died for their religion. The night before All Hallows was called Hallows Eve.    2    

Like the Celts, the Europeans of that time also believed that the spirits of the dead would visit the earth on Halloween.    3     So on that night people wore costumes that looked like ghosts or other evil (邪恶的) creatures.They thought if they dressed like that, the spirits would think they were also dead and not harm them.

The tradition of Halloween was carried to America by the immigrating (移民) Europeans. Some of the traditions changed a little, though. For example, on Halloween in Europe some people would carry lanterns made from turnips (芜菁).     4     So people began putting candles inside pumpkins and using them as lanterns. That is why you see Jack-O-Lanterns.

These days Halloween is not usually considered a religious holiday.     5     Children dress up in costumes like people did a thousand years ago. But instead of worrying about evil spirits, they go from house to house. They knock on doors and say“trick or treat". The owner of each house gives candy or something special to each trick-or-treater.

【推荐3】China’s economic growth has long impressed the world with its high speed. Now the country’s accelerating green transformation (转型) is expected to offer inspiring lessons in balancing the economy and the natural environment.

Ant Forest, a program on the platform of Alipay, won the UN’s top environmental honor for turning the green good deeds of half a billion people into real trees planted in some of China’s most dry regions. It was not the first time that China had won such honor due to a positive influence on the environment. All these awards came due to China’s solid progress in ensuring the harmony between man and nature.

However, China’s past economic growth has not come without negative consequences for the environment. In the late 1970s, with the rapid development of China’s economy, environmental problems also increased.

To strike a balance between the economic boom and the environmental burden, China put environmental protection as a basic national policy and the sustainable development strategy was put into practice in the 1990s. Now the country holds a belief: “Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.”

The increased environmental awareness and investments have produced results. Air quality in China continued to improve with more cities reporting a drop in major pollutant emissions indicators. Surface water quality kept improving in general. In terms of soil pollution control, the country reduced solid waste imports by 46.5 percent in 2018.

Strong environmental protection has motivated related fields. The country becomes the first in the world to set up a national green financial system. It also helps push green finance to be included on the G20 agenda.

Recognizing that protecting the environment is the best way to realize economic growth, China will continue to stick to giving preference to green development.