Tina was only three years old and couldn’t really understand how serious her mother’s illness was. Looking at lovely Tina, her mother was _________, but had to think about how to say goodbye to this little girl. “Tina,” said her mother in a slow, weak _________. “I have to part with you for a long time because I must work as a fairy in _________ world and it may take a few years. When I get back, I will look kind of _________, but I am still your mother and the way I love you will never change. Can you wait that long?” Tina nodded and _________, “I sure will.” Days later, Tina’s mother passed away.

When Tina was five years old, her father decided to get married again _________ a kind woman named Mandy. Mandy was a little worried because she wasn’t sure if Tina would _________ her as her step-mother. The day came when Tina’s father officially（正式地） brought Mandy home. To her _________, little Tina ran towards her in excitement and shouted, “Mom, Mom, you finally come back! I know it’s you, isn’t it? _________ you look different, I can feel it’s you!” Mandy was astonished（错愕的）. But after she got to know the story of the fairy, her eyes were full of tears. She held Tina in __________ arms and said, “Yes, I’m your Mom. I am back and I love you!”

Words and expressions in a language come along with people’s daily lives, and Chinese is no exception. The word “stuff” which means “things” in Chinese is made up of two characters dongxi, meaning east and west. It sounds like when you put east and west together, you get dongxi.

Why is stuff called dongxi? One of the explanations comes from the Eastern Han Dynasty. At that time, Dongjing, the east capital, and Xijing, the west capital, were the places where people could buy the treasures from all over the world. Dongjing was Luoyang, and Xijing was Chang’an City. People went to Luoyang and Chang’an City to buy goods, and they were called “buying dong” and “buying xi”. Later, buying goods was collectively called “buying dongxi”.

Another explanation comes from a story. Long long ago, there was a well-educated scholar who always asked “why”. One day he met a friend in the street who was carrying a basket to buy some stuff. He wondered why he was buying dongxi instead of “south and north”. After thinking about it for a period of time, he concluded that in ancient China, wood stands for east, gold stands for west, fire stands for south and water stands for north. We can put wood and gold, not fire or water, into a bamboo basket. So people say dongxi instead of south and north. And this expression is used until today.

Winter Solstice（冬至）is one of the 24 solar terms in China which falls on December 22nd or 23rd. It is the very day in North Hemisphere（北半球）with the shortest day and the longest night all year round. Right after it, the daytime becomes increasingly longer and the coldest weather starts to spread all the places in the northern part of the globe. We Chinese always call it “jinjiu”, which means once Winter Solstice comes, we will have to meet the coldest time ahead. So it is also regarded as the first day of winter.

Being a traditional holiday as well, Winter Solstice has a history of more than 2,500 years. It started from the Spring and Autumn Period, and became a big event in the Tang and Song Dynasties. On this day, farmers took a rest to enjoy the great harvest（丰收）after a year of hard work. Not only common people, but also the emperors celebrated it to welcome the coming year, so it was seen as an important time as the Spring Festival.

Nowadays, Winter Solstice is mainly celebrated in different eating customs. In the North, it is said that Zhang Zhongjing, a respected doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, made dumplings which were in the shape of ears with fillings of a medical purpose, in order to prevent them from frostbite（冻伤）on ears. In Southern China, however, people prefer sweet dumplings, rice balls and long noodles which carry their good wishes.