【推荐1】Almost every Chinese person can recite the famous poem. “Every grain on the plate comes from hard work (谁知盘中餐，粒粒皆辛苦)” . But sadly, many of us don’t actually get the real meaning of the poem: Don’t waste food.

A CCTV program, News One Plus One, reported that food Chinese people throw away every year is enough to feed 200 million people for a year.

Do we have too much food? No, According to the UN World Food Program, there were 925 million hungry people around the world in 2010. Especially in developing countries. Six million children die of hunger every year.

Chinese people are well known for being generous (慷慨的). Many even feel that they lose face if their guests have eaten all the food on the table.

Luckily, a number of people have realized the importance of saving food. In 2012, Li Hong, a waitress in a restaurant in Nanjing, got fired (开除) because she took some leftover (剩余的) food home for her son. Many people stood by her side and agreed that it was not right to waste food.

What should we do in our daily lives to waste less food. Here are some tips:

※ Do not order too much in a restaurant. Only order what you want to eat. If you cannot eat all the food you ordered, take the rest of it home.

※ Don’t be too picky about food. Some food may not taste great. But your body needs it.

※ Keep an eye on what food you have at home. Don’t buy too much, especially for vegetables and fruit.

You asked me how to make a milk shake. There are different kinds of milk shake, such as apple milk shake, banana milk shake and carrot milk shake. Carrot milk shake is my favorite, because carrots and milk are both good for my health. Before starting, you need a carrot, a cup of milk, some ice and two teaspoons of honey. Of course, you need a blender.

Now, let’s start. First, wash the carrot and cut it up. Next, put the carrot, the milk, some ice and two teaspoons of honey into the blender. Then turn on the blender. Keep it work for only one minute. Finally, pour the carrot milk shake in a glass and drink it. It’s delicious.

I want to learn how to make some Chinese food, such as dumplings. Could you teach me?

Write soon!

Alice

Zang Chaiyuan has recently been working deep into the night because people are lined up for her steamed buns (馒头). The 25-year-old girl from Yantai, Shandong Province, has turned flour (面粉) into a gold mine (矿) by putting modern elements (元素) into “Jiaodong huabobo”, a popular traditional food dating back more than 300 years.

Huabobo is a flower-shaped steamed bun, which has been a treat at many folk (民俗) activities, such as celebrations and festivals.

Zang shaped huabobo by hand. And these shapes change from cute rabbits dressed in lion dance costumes to treasure bowls and lucky bags, among others.

Although Zang did a good job on humbobo, her parents believed that young people should find a steady (稳定的) job. They even thought huabobo was better for more elderly women to make.

However, she still kept making huabobo. After Lang graduated from the Yantai University in 2018, she had an idea to start up her own business.

She loved huabobo in her childhood. “My grandmother used to make huabobo. They were in all kinds of shapes, which were very beautiful ,” Zang says. She then set her eyes on huabobo at the beginning of 2020. At first, she learned from an experienced huabobo master about the basic skills and then practiced over and over again on her own. It did’t take long before Zang got the whole process down to a fine art.

With a little more than 10, 000 yuan of her own savings, Zang opened her small huabobo shop in Yantai. Many of her followers came to buy her huabobo and praised that they are too cute to be eaten. Zang has held training classes at her shops and shot a video for those that live far away.

“Many have shown great interest in picking up huabobo skills, especially women who have just become mothers,” she says. “I love traditional Chinese culture and I believe that this art work is worth spreading.”

【推荐1】Do the British really get together every afternoon at 4 to sit and drink several cups of tea? Ask any of my German students and they will tell you “YES!” But it’s simply not sure.

We drink over 150 million cups of tea a day in Britain, but there is no special time for it. “Tea” is wildly used as a name for the evening meal. This is more common in Scotland and the north of England but you can hear it all over the country. Usually it is the main meal of the day, eaten between 5 and 7. So, “teatime” refers to the meal and not the drink. In the south, the evening meal is often called dinner, however, dinner in the north is the midday meal. In general:

North: Breakfast—Dinner—Teatime

South: Breakfast—Lunch—Dinner

What about tea breaks? Surely this must be a special time for tea? Wrong again, I’m afraid. Tea breaks are just an opportunity to have a rest from work for around 10 minutes. In this time you can drink whatever you like （which of course includes tea）. This is usually with a small snack, like biscuits. The best time for a tea break is around 11 a.m. or around 3 p.m.

But what about tea rooms? Can I drink tea there? Yes! A tea room is the perfect place to go with friends and family to enjoy tea, cakes and sandwiches. This is known as afternoon tea and is usually saved for special occasions（场合）such as birthday party.

Teatime, tea breaks, afternoon tea… how could you possibly get muddle up（混淆）these terms（术语）?

【推荐2】Do you always eat well? It’s vital for your health! You need apples, oranges and other fruit. You need vegetables such as carrots and tomatoes, too. Fruit and vegetables are good for you. Just eat them more every day. Meat (肉) isn’t very healthy food. You can eat some, but don’t eat too much. What about ice-cream? It isn’t good for you! So don’t eat it.

Do you play sports? It’s good for you, too. Basketball, volleyball and soccer are all great sports. You can play one of them after school. Play sports with your friends every day!

Do you always watch TV? It’s fun to do it, but don’t watch too late in the evening. It’s not good for your health.

【推荐2】Sitting in front of the television may be relaxing, but spending too much time in front of it may takes years off your life. Watching less television may help you live a much longer life.

Australian researchers (研究人员) surveyed more than 11,000 people over the age of 25. Their study showed that if people watched TV for six hours a day, they lived about 4.8 years less than those who didn’t watch any television. Also, people who are over the age of 25 lose 22 minutes of life for each hour of TV that they watch.

Sitting in front of the television isn’t healthy. The more TV you watch, the less exercise you’ll get. And the less exercise you get, the more likely it is that you’ll get sick.

Lennert Veerman, the researcher who led the study, says watching too much TV will influence people’s life expectancies (预期寿命), even for people who have a good diet. He thinks it’s reasonable for doctors to start asking their patients about how much TV they watch, as it can be an indicator (指标) of someone’s overall health.

Therefore, Veerman has called on people to turn off the TV and get off the sofa to get some exercise. “Exercise is good,” he said. “Even light activity is good for health.”

【推荐3】Have you ever heard of the Eternal Flame Falls (永恒火焰瀑布)? It’s one of the most special waterfalls on our planet.

The waterfall is in a park in western New York, the USA. As we come close to it, we will smell something like bad eggs. That’s the smell of natural methane gas (沼气) produced by ancient rocks that are awfully hot. At the heart of the waterfall is a small flame.

The burning flame has been there for a long time. The locals believe it was created by elves (精灵). According to them, we may come across one while looking at the flame if we are lucky enough.

Another popular idea about the flame is that it’s alive because of the natural gas. It is widely believed that it was first set on fire a hundred years ago. Although the flame once went out, it was lit again right away.

However, Indiana University researchers think differently. The temperature of the flame is much higher than the boiling point of water, but their study shows that those rocks are not hot enough to lead to such a result. This means something else keeps the flame alive. However, the researchers are unable to discover the real reason behind it.

Arndt Schimmelmann from the university further explains that this special place has a different way to produce gas. “If there is another way of producing gas, there might be more gas sources (来源) than expected,” he adds.