【推荐2】I went to Beijing to study Chinese last year. I was _______ about all the chances to better my language skills, walk on the Great Wall, and most of all, eat real Chinese food! I _______ remember my first jianbing, jiaozi and Peking duck. Each of them was amazing in its own way.

I knew that real Chinese food would _______ the Chinese food I had eaten in the USA. I couldn’t wait to try all the mouth-watering dishes that came up in my research about Chinese food. One of _______ favorites turned out to be hotpot. My first-ever hotpot experience in Beijing was unforgettable. As a first-timer, I was moved by the waiters’ _______ and their warmth of welcome. They tried their best to introduce all of the oils and spices (调味香料) to me.

Looking around, I found that everyone had their own favorite sauce combinations (酱料组合), ingredients and styles. Some would carefully _______ their ingredients into the hotpot one after another. Others would impatiently put whole plates into the bubbling (冒泡的) oil. You can learn a lot from the _______ people eat hotpot. When I went back to the USA, I _______ to prepare a hotpot meal for my family. It allowed me to not only share the culture that I had learned about, but also offer others a chance to _______ China like I had. It’s amazing ________ hotpot could bring so much to life!

【推荐3】A girl told her father about her hard life. She was always ______ because she has many problems in her life. And she didn’t know what she had to do.

Her father smiled and took her into the kitchen. He ______ three pots (锅) with water. And he put some sweet potatoes in the first pot. In the second one, he put some eggs. Sugar was in the third. Then he boiled (煮) them. The girl ______ why her father was doing that. She watched him and ______ without saying a word.

Twenty minutes later, her father took out the three things and put sweet potatoes on a ______, put eggs in a bowl and put sugar water in a glass. And then he turned back to his daughter and asked, “What do you see?” “Sweet potatoes, eggs and sugar,” she answered.

Her father told her to close her ______ and touch them. She did and she felt the sweet potatoes were soft (软的). Then she touched the eggs. They were ______. Finally, her father asked her to taste the sugar. “What do you mean, Dad?” the girl asked.

The father ______, “Each of the three things met with the same bad experience—they were all in the same boiling water, but they had ______ results. Sweet potatoes became soft, eggs became hard and sugar changed into sugar ______. Which one will you want to be, a sweet potato, an egg or sugar? You decide.”