【推荐1】Tanghulu, some fruit covered with sugar on a stick, is a traditional snack from northern China. It’s also a necessary snack during the Chinese New Year season. Recently, in northern China, people welcome the return of spring by holding Tanghulu Fair (糖葫芦庙会).

Many Chinese still remember eating tanghulu when they were young. (A) It is said that the fair has a 500-year-old history. (B) Nowadays, tanghulu is not only a kind of snack, but also a sweet memory of our childhood. Every year, a large number of tanghulu, sellers get together to start delicious tanghulu competitions during the Spring Festival.

In the past, people only used haws (山楂) to make this traditional snack, but now people also use grapes, oranges, strawberries and so on. But people like haw tanghulu best. It is rich in Vitamin C and E. Do you know how to make haw tanghulu? (C) First, wash the large haws clean, dig the seeds out, and pierce (穿) haws on a stick. Then heat the sugar, put the sticks of haws into heated sugar and quickly pull them out. When the sugar on the haws cools down and becomes a candy coat, tanghulu is done. Tanghulu is very popular in China, especially in Beijing. Many foreigners also want to taste it.

We hope tanghulu will become one of the most popular snacks in the world.

My family makes the best chicken salad. Dad prepares（准备）all of the ingredients and Mom makes the relish. There are a few things that make this chicken salad different from the other chicken salads. First, we use fruit jam（果酱）in the relish. You can buy any fruit jam, like banana jam or orange jam. But we have bottles of strawberry jam that my mother made, so we use the strawberry jam. Second, we put some green olives（橄榄）. Green olives give the salad an interesting taste and make a big difference. Now let me tell you how my family makes the salad.

First, mix up all of the salad ingredients（佐料）in a large bowl. The ingredients are chicken, tomatoes, green olives, onions and apples. If you like lettuce, you can also put some. Next, make the relish. Please mix the jam, the juice and the salt. Finally, mix the relish（调料）with the salad ingredients.

Do you have a favorite chicken salad recipe? Please tell us about it. You can write to greensalad@yahoo.com.

【推荐2】Have you ever thought about how many different things you like? You may like pets, parties, presents, foods, and even superheroes! Our world is full of so many things to like!

Do you ever wonder (琢磨) why you like certain animals or why you like to do certain things? You may not think about it often, but you may learn something about yourself if you think twice.

For example, why do you like to play with cats more than dogs? Why do you like going to parties and playing games? Why do you like some sweets but not others?

Our personality helps form what we like and dislike. Sometimes the things we like just come naturally to us. For example, who’s your favourite superhero? You probably like that character (人物) for reasons that are all your own. You may not have even thought about why you like that superhero... you just do.

As you learn more and do more, you may find out that there are more and more things you like. That’s a good thing!

Do your friends like the same things that you do? Maybe you and your friends like different things. But it’s OK. What you like is part of what makes you you!

【推荐3】You might think the 4G mobile connection on your phone is pretty fast. However, an even faster and stronger technology is just around the corner. (A) 5G networks will introduce us to a new world of connectivity.

What is 5G? It's the latest generation of mobile network technology. It works by using a wider range (范围) of the radio spectrum (射频频谱) , allowing (B) plenty of signals to be sent and received at higher speeds.

This means 5G will be super - fast. People will be able to use the internet at a much greater speed than before. 5G will increase download speeds to up to 20 Gb per second - much faster than 4G’s 1 Gb per second. That means a movie can be downloaded in just a few seconds!

5G also has less lag (延迟) time than 4G. This means your video calls and other types of communication will be more stable (稳定的) and reliable (可靠的).

Most importantly, 5G's greater network capacity (容量) means that we can connect not just people to people, but also people to machines, or to just about anything. 5G will make the "internet of things" possible, connecting all of our devices and environments to an online network.

For example, the lights in your living room, the refrigerator in your kitchen - all of (C) them can be controlled with your phone. (D) Outside of the home, factory owners will be able to use it to control their robots. Farmers could use it to follow "smart" tractors on their farms.

Wearable devices could send updates to your doctor about changes in your health. Driverless cars and home delivery drones (送货无人机) will depend on 5G to work better. A completely wireless (无线的) world in at our doorstep.

The students’ life today can be very stressful. They are under pressure every day. They need a break. Parents should ask children to do something else. But don’t let them relax in front of the TV. There are many different kinds of hobbies for them to relax themselves. Playing chess is a good example. It is a very enjoyable game and it also helps children develop their thinking skills. Collecting something is also a good hobby for children. A child can collect almost anything: key rings, stamps, postcards, old coins, etc. Hobbies can benefit (有益于) children a lot. For example, gardening (园艺) is a useful hobby because it is a physical activity and it also teaches children about nature. A hobby can be a useful learning tool. Children may become experts in something if they really love their hobbies. Hobbies will also teach children a lot about responsibility (责任).

There is an English saying, “Laughter is the best medicine.” Until recently, few people took the saying seriously. Now, however, doctors have begun to look into laughter and the influences it has on the human body. They have found that laughter can really make people healthier.

Tests were carried out to study the influences of laughter on the body. People watched funny films while doctors checked their heart, blood pressure, breathing and muscles. It was found that laughter has similar influences to physical exercise. It increases blood pressure, the heart beating and breathing. It also works several groups of muscles in the face, the stomach, and even the feet. If laughter exercises the body, it must be beneficial (有益的).

Other tests have shown that laughter appears to be able to reduce pain on the body. In one test doctors produced pain in groups of students who listened to different radio programmes. The reason why laughter can reduce pain seems to be that it helps to produce a kind of chemical in the brain which reduce both stress and pain.

As a result of these discoveries, some doctors in the United States now hold laughter clinics (诊所), in which they try to improve their patients’ condition by encouraging them to laugh. Because of good influences, such clinics are very popular with all kinds of patients. Doctors have found that even if their patients do not really feel like laughing, making them smile is enough to produce beneficial influences similar to those caused by laughter.

Since laughter is so effective, try to laugh as much as you can. Believe it will do much good to your health. If you are not used to laughing in front of others, you can also smile as often as possible to others because it can have almost the same influence.

Seeing someone who seems to be walking on a cloud sounds like a dream. But this scene indeed exists (存在)—and it isn’t just in your head. It’s a popular attraction in the South American country of Bolivia called the Salar de Uyuni (乌尤尼盐湖). The area covers a large amount of white, glistening (闪亮的) salt and runs across 10,582 kilometers of the Altiplano and you can even see it from space.

What’s special about the Salar? This salt flat (盐田) can create an endless natural mirror, which gives you an amazing experience. On a still day, water covering the salt changes the salt flat into “The World’s Largest Mirror” reflecting the sky. Those who are lucky enough to see this natural wonder will tell you how difficult it is to find out the dividing line between the sky and land.

Some 40,000 years ago, water from the surrounding mountains gathered here and there were no outlets (出口) where the rainfall could flow out. So a huge lake was formed with natural salt inside. Over time, about 25,000 years ago, high temperatures reduced the rainfall in the area. The climate from wet to dry caused the water to slowly evaporate (蒸发). About 10,000 years ago, the body of water dried up and a deep layer (层) of salt flat was left behind.

With about 10 billion tons of salt lying around it, it’s no surprise that salt production in the Salar is a big business. But the real treasure lies under the surface of the salt flat, where around 70% of the world’s lithium (锂) reserves can be found. The lithium is used for powering mobile phones, laptops, electric cars and this resource could be of great value.