You’ve probably seen the TV ads about holiday gifts: Mom loves that LV handbag and Dad     17     the sports car. But wait a minute! Kids can’t afford to buy such     18     gifts. Most kids don’t even have jobs. Kids will feel pressure (压力) if they spend a lot of money on holiday gifts. So what do you do if you want to give gifts to the     19     people in your life? Do you know what the best gifts mean? The best gifts show the people that you     20     them well and like them a lot.

Thankfully, there are many low-cost ways to do that. Let’s     21     parents. With the help of an adult, you can bake cookies and put them in pretty holiday boxes or baskets. You can also put dry cookies in a glass cup as a gift. You can also give your mom something     22     priceless (无价的): A tidy room — you get up early and     23    ! I think that is what the mothers in the world want to see. For     24    , you can write a poem, letter, or song, explaining why he or she is special to you. You can also draw a picture or buy them some favourite books, if you like that better.

If you want to have a really quiet holiday, you must go and stay on a farm. Last year some cousins and I went to our uncle’s farm and enjoyed ourselves very much. But the farmer’s life is not an easy one. There is always much work to do. We must look after his horses and he must milk the cows. Then he has to take great care of the young animals. Cocks and hens, ducks and turkeys, must all be raised for the market. We all like to have turkey for Christmas, don’t we?

In the old days, most of the work on a farm was done by hand and horses, but now things are different. Most of the farm work is done by machine.

When I stay at my uncle’s farm, I have to work very hard, but I don’t mind. I really enjoy it, if the weather is nice.

Chinese New Year is a special holiday ________ everyone. At that time, family members from all over China meet together. They ________ talking, eating, and having a good time.

Older family members ________ work and friends. They share news of the last year. Younger people have fun playing. They also ________ red envelops with “lucky money” inside.

It’s also a time to welcome the new year. People ________ their houses. Friends visit each other. And people wish each other good luck.

There’s probably only one bad thing about Chinese New Year: traffic. People say that on some days, the road is the world’s biggest parking lot (停车场)!

Do you know what “GMF” is? It means “genetically（基因）modified（改造的） food.” For example, you put something into the gene（基因）of a plant, and then it could be s    50     and healthier. That means people w    51     need pesticide（杀虫剂）in the f    52    . But we are still not sure if GMF will be bad for our h    53    . Because of this, some people n    54     buy GMF in the market.

The Dragon Boat Festival, the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, has a history of more than 2,000 years. It is usually in June in the Gregorian calendar.

There are many legends（传说）about the evolution（演变）of the festival. The most popular is about Qu Yuan (340—270 BC). Qu Yuan was the minister of the State of Chu and one of China’s earliest poets. Qu Yuan cared much for his country and people. In 278 B.C., he heard that Qin had finally captured（攻占）Chu’s capital, so he jumped into the Miluo River. That day was the 5th of the 5th month in the Chinese lunar calendar. After his death, the people of Chu came to the bank of the river to pay their respects（敬重）to him. The fishermen sailed their boats up and down the river to look for his body. People threw rice dumplings into the water to keep fish away from his body. People followed the customs such as having a dragon boat race, eating rice dumplings on that day. From 2008 on, the festival becomes a national holiday in China.